Letters
by Unjax
Summary: Ruby wakes up in a forest with nothing but foggy memories and a letter on a scroll. As she begins to remember the world, she tries to piece together what happened to her, how the world has changed, and most importantly, who Weiss Schnee is and what she used to mean to Ruby; with nothing to guide her but letters from a missing heiress.
1. Chapter 1: Resurrection

Groggy eyes snapped open to the sight of arching branches sweeping softly in the overhead breeze. The dark silhouettes of the trees accented the contrasting shine of the stars and shadows of the night. White light from a shattered moon splashed across the sparse foliage of the mostly dead, skeletal branches, making them glimmer. Soft grass tickled the back of her neck, comforting her, but an insistent prodding from a broken twig encouraged her to roll over, away from the ground.

A moan escaped her lips as stiff muscles moved. She caught sight of her arm, covered to the wrist by a dark sleeve. She followed the sleeve up to see she was wearing a dress that ended in a flared skirt, all darker than the shadows of the midnight. The bottom side of the skirt, however, was made of a sharp red, catching the moon's rays and standing out in the otherwise monotone, shadowed ground. Something ruffled behind her in the wind, and she turned her head to see a cloak behind her, made of the same colour, twirling softly in the toying breeze.

There was something about that colour, that cloak. She was supposed to remember. Something that was important, but the memories were slow to come. She reached for them, but could not dredge them from the recesses of her mind.

She was also wearing tights, fading from red to black, and they were cut off above her ankle by a sturdy pair of combat boots. She immediately liked the boots. They seemed practical, sturdy, and grounded. They were the opposite of how she felt: senseless, faint, frail, and liable to blow away with the breeze.

She stood, slowly, looking down at her hands. She felt that they should be remembered, but they looked unfamiliar. Well, not unfamiliar, but unnatural. Something in the back of her mind told her that those weren't supposed to be there. Everything about her just seemed... _Off_.

The trees, the view, the moon, the cliff edge on one side, even the grass, it all seemed familiar, but distant. There was a memory, something about black fur and red eyes, but she couldn't pull it all the way up. None of it was tangible to her. It was recognized, but almost forgotten, nothing but hints and scraps of the former experiences remaining.

Some electronic device made a beeping sound to her side, and she looked down to see a small scroll with a little green light blinking at her. A moment later, it beeped again, trying to get her to pay attention.

She bent over, and picked up the scroll. Upon opening it, the green light went out. The screen was dark for a moment, and when she tapped it gently, a message popped up.

 _Ruby,_

 _I know this is probably more than a little disorienting for you. I guess it_ has _been four years. I don't know what you remember, or if you remember anything - none of this is very exact science - but I hope you know who I am. I'm not sure I could bear losing all the moments we shared... I hope you remember._

 _This isn't your scroll; it's mine. I won't be needing it anymore though, so I suppose you can use it. If you're reading this, it will be the first of many letters you'll receive, and_ Dust _do I hope you're reading this. What's happened is long and complicated, and maybe in time I'll be able to tell you, but sitting here, writing this, I can't bring myself to think about it. I'm scared, Ruby. I'm so, so scared._

 _That doesn't matter though. You're about fifteen kilometers from the city. You're on the edge of an overhang. If you walk in the exact opposite direction of the edge, you'll get to the city. I suppose that you could get there in a few minutes, but if you walk, it will take some time. When you get there, go to 29-11, apartment J. Maybe they can tell you what I can't bring myself to._

 _When you see the others, if they ask about me, don't tell them about this message. They'll worry and fret, but everything is alright. Everything is going to be okay now. I don't want them to come looking for me or try to track me down. This will all be a lot simpler if everyone continues to live the way they were before. I know they'll have a lot of questions, and you won't have answers, but don't try to find them. I suppose I'll tell you in time, but until then, just do your best to live a normal life. Or what passes for normal for you._

 _There's a lot I want to tell you, but everything I have to say will be said soon enough. I do wish I could be there to see you again, but circumstances have made that impossible._

 _This letter is going to be short; I need to do this now. Preparations have been made though. You'll receive more of these, and maybe by the end of it all, you can understand why I did what I did. Why I did what I had to do. It's selfish, I know, but I think that maybe, even if you can't forgive me, you can understand me. More importantly though, I hope that you can do what I couldn't. There are things that I couldn't overcome, things that I couldn't beat. You've always been strong though, you've always been better. I think you might just have a chance at succeeding where I failed._

 _It is probably little compared to what others feel, but with what little warmth and love my heart can summon, welcome back Ruby Rose, and I wish you the best in your life._

 _-Weiss_

 _Ruby_... Her name was Ruby. That sounded right, familiar. Ruby Rose. Other names drifted into her mind, though in no particular order. Random names that made no sense, but a few caught and stuck.

Yang, that one was sunny and bright. That one felt important, like someone she had known the name for a long was a faunus, Blake, though she couldn't remember how she knew her. And then a few others, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Ozpin, Taiyang... They all meant something to her, though Ruby was having issues putting her finger on what it was exactly.

And then there was Weiss.

Weiss Schnee.

That name was different. It definitely meant something to her, but there was more to it than that. Thinking about it though, Ruby became even more confused. No specific memories came to her, but rather snippets and images. A condescending voice that somehow warmed her heart; a flicker of brilliant white hair, a warm smile on usually cold lips, smooth ivory skin...

But one question, one sensation, overpowered the rest. It made no sense, and Ruby had no idea why she thought it. She didn't know what kind of relationship she had had with Weiss, but the question burned at her, caused a sense of betrayal, made her somewhat sad.

 _Why isn't she here with me?_

Ruby stared at the screen for a moment, trying to make sense of the words. The entire world was jumbled, and the text on the scroll just added to the confusion. Weiss was right about at least one thing; Ruby was very disoriented.

She checked the address again, committed it to memory, then turned away from the cliff and began walking.

* * *

The apartment complex wasn't particularly fancy, but the large building had spacious glass windows and a well-kept ground. It didn't speak of excessive wealth, but it was the kind of place that people who were well-off would live. Ruby looked at the address, verified it was 29-11, then entered the building. The main floor was wide open with slim, carved pillars shooting up towards the ceiling. The architecture was pleasant, and Ruby saw a small plaque posted outside a glass door that opened into a spiral staircase as she walked up to it. Apartment J was on the third floor, so Ruby opened the glass door and began to make her way up the staircase.

When she exited onto the third floor, she was met with a narrow corridor that ended at a darkly stained oak door. As she approached, murmuring followed by the occasional laugh or giggle escaped from the walls.

She came up to the door and knocked; there was an immediate groan in response.

"It's your turn Jaune." The voice was soft, lilting, and kind. It pulled at memories in Ruby's mind, but frustratingly, they eluded her.

"Come on! We're watching a movie, besides, it's probably just some salesman."

"Go on," The kind voice urged.

"Aren't you at least going to pause it?"

"Hurry back, and you won't miss a thing."

More grumbling in a lower voice, and she heard footsteps approaching the door. As the steps got closer, the mumbling got a little louder until it finally grew into speech. "Look, this movie's _really_ good," The door began to open and Ruby saw a well built man with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. "So I'd really like to-" The man broke off as he saw her, the colour drained from his face. His mouth hung open in shock, his eyes bugged out, and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

He was familiar, and one of the nebulous names that had been floating around her head came into sharp definition, the memories focusing: he was the first friend she had made at Beacon. She had spent a lot of time talking with him, discussing their teams... _RWBY and JNPR_. His hair was swept over his brow as usual, and he was wearing a hoodie as he always had, though white now rather than black. Despite these similarities, he seemed more like a man. His face seemed stronger; he was older and physically matured, yet she could still see the friend she had made outside of Beacon on the first day of school.

After she had exploded in front of Weiss.

Ruby let out a little giggle as a warm feeling spread through her chest, a sort a comfort. She knew he was a good guy, and she was among friends. She was feeling confused and disjointed, but she knew if anyone could help her it would be Jaune. He was always helping someone, the kind of guy who would put others ahead of himself - though she remembered getting mad at him for it a few times. It was funny how the memories started to come back right away, and it made Ruby's fingers tingle.

"Jaune?" She asked, working the name around her mouth and trying to get used to it.

"Who is it?" Came the soft voice from behind him.

Jaune was still in shock. Ruby didn't know why. He was looking at her and studying her intensely, his ocean blue eyes flickering over her, and his brow knit together. "This isn't possible." He murmured under his breath. His eyes looked past her through to the corridor, but drifted back to her eventually. " _How_?" He asked; the word tumbled from his mouth in an exhale of a breathe he had been holding. Ruby didn't think that it had been intentional.

"Jaune?" The soft voice called again, and the hard clacking of heels on hardwood echoed through the hallway. Jaune didn't respond.

Scarlet was the first thing Ruby saw as Pyrrha walked into the hallway, ' _immaculate as ever.'_ The thought sprung to mind, unprompted. She was wearing a warm, amber T-shirt and a green pleated skirt, and although they were casual garments, she looked like she was ready to attend a ball which, for some reason, seemed quite fitting to Ruby. She had not changed as much as Jaune though. She was perhaps a little more relaxed, her shoulders not pulled so stressfully into a permanent, militant pose.

It was the setting that first tipped Ruby off that things might be different than she remembered. They were living in an apartment, not at school. Ruby didn't remember anyone living outside of Beacon, and finding two of her friends here confused her. She hadn't known what she had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't her friends, especially not friends who had changed from what she could recall.

And they had been watching a movie. Together. Since when were Jaune and Pyrrha watching movies together? In an apartment, apparently theirs.

It was at that time that Ruby noticed the rings.

Ruby started to get a headache.

As the woman caught sight of Ruby, her eyes shot open and a harsh gasp echoed through the hallway. She fell against the wall of the entryway, her eyes boring into Ruby, her face plastered with shock. Pyrrha seemed to have stopped breathing.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, her focus returning to Jaune. It felt like someone was pressing a needle through her forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Ruby..." The name fell through his lips, almost like it was involuntary. "How are you here?"

Ruby opened her mouth to tell him about the scroll, but she frowned. Weiss had asked her not to tell them, and although Ruby didn't really know why, she wanted to trust her... Friend? She was still struggling to remember what her relationship with the other woman was. A shot of pain echoed through her head.

"I was told I could find you here." She said instead. It wasn't a lie, however, she still felt guilty saying it.

"No, how are you _here_? Breathing, walking, talking? What- _How_?"

"Most living people breath, Jaune." She said, grabbing her elbow with her hand nervously. She didn't feel comfortable anymore. Suddenly everything felt very unfamiliar. There was a moment of silence, the air practically crackling with tension, and Ruby suddenly found the sleek, hardwood floor to be very interesting.

"Ruby," Jaune finally spoke, warily and low. She met his gaze, not missing the hard set of his jaw and deep sadness in his eyes.

" _You haven't been living for the past three years."_

* * *

 **Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first chapter of my next story! I wrote a few chapters of this before summer as a buffer, but after getting into Melt the Ice, I didn't invest too much time into it. Now that the other is over, it's time for me to focus on Letters!**

 **Let me know what you think of the first chapter! First few will be spaced out this week, and after that it should fall into the habitual chapter/week. This is going to be a bit of a weird ff... Time skip and amnesia. The first few chapters will mostly be setting the scene. Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed!**

 **-Unjax**


	2. Chapter 2: Late Night Talks

Ruby knocked her knees together nervously as she sipped from the tea. It was pleasantly warm, not too hot. The peppermint aroma wafted up from it, filling her nose with the scent of potent leaves, calming her headache a little. It wasn't heavily steeped, still mostly clear, but flavoured just enough. The room she was sitting in was quite large, containing a flat screen tv built into the wall, a few speakers, a fireplace keeping it warm in the corner, and a puffy black leather couch upon which Ruby sat. The walls were a dark amber, giving the room a warm tone that was accented by the lightly flickering fire. She should have felt at ease in such a nice place.

But low, intense, harsh whispers, muffled by the walls, floated to Ruby's ears, shattering the illusion of calm. In the next room over, Jaune and Pyrrha were having a discussion, though it seemed like it was quickly devolving into an argument. Ruby longed for that fleeting moment of comfort she had felt when she had seen Jaune, but she had an uneasy feeling that it wouldn't return anytime soon.

She took another sip of the tea.

As the cup came back to rest between her thighs, Ruby stopped the nervous knocking for a moment so as to not cause the water to ripple. Still feeling edgy, she bit her lip instead. Her image in the lightly tinted liquid came into focus as the water stilled, and Ruby was able to study her face for the first time since waking up in the forest. The image was washed out, but clear enough to see in.

Her hair was short, with a long bang sweeping over her brow. It was jet black, but dyed near the ends with crimson. Her face was youthful, more than Pyrrha's and Jaune's, though it was still quite defined, edged from years of hard exercise and training.. Ruby focused on her eyes though, reflecting on the sheen of the surface tension. They were a brilliant, icy blue, so pale they almost glowed in the room's dim light. She narrowed her eyes and looked more closely, but it wasn't a trick of the light. They were definitely a whitish shade of blue. That didn't seem right to Ruby. They didn't look like hers.

Not to mention it totally ruined her whole color scheme.

She sighed and sipped the tea again, hearing the heavy breath echo through the apartment. Her presence was causing a lot of unrest, more than she was okay with. Coming here seemed like a mistake. Ruby stood and walked towards the doorway of the room, leaning next to the door frame as she came up next to the kitchen.

Jaune had his head bowed and his arms out wide, palms resting on the two parallel countertops of the kitchen with his back to her. Behind him, Ruby could see Pyrrha with her arms hugging her body, and an expression somewhere between shock and pain on her face.

"Pyrrha, we can't tell her until we know what's going on." He urged in a low voice.

"Jaune, she should be the first to know. We-" Pyrrha broke off as she saw Ruby in the doorway over Jaune's shoulder. Registering the pause, Jaune followed her gaze to see Ruby.

"Um," Ruby started, then gave a little bit of a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry if I was, y'know, interrupting something. If you guys want I can just go and-"

"No!" Pyrrha interrupted, her eyebrows shooting up. "Ruby, it's fine!"

"We were just discussing how we should go about letting people know about this." Jaune said, though from the snippet of conversation Ruby had caught, it had been about one person in particular.

"Well," Ruby started. She didn't know how many people she wanted to see right away. She was still sorting out the jumbled memories of Jaune and Pyrrha, and she didn't know how many other people she could handle re-meeting without being overwhelmed. "Maybe we could take it slow, y'know?"

Pyrrha looked at her, and Ruby caught something close to sorrow in her eyes. Maybe sympathy, even.

"Yeah," Jaune answered with a light smile on his face. "Maybe we can do that."

"Are you tired?" Pyrrha spoke up, her voice holding an almost musical tone.

"Not really." Ruby answered with a shrug. "Apparently I've been resting for three years so, you know, kind of looking forward to staying awake." Jaune let out a low chuckle.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Pyrrha asked, ever the caring one.

"If it's alright, there are a few things I'm a little confused about. Think you could help fill me in?"

"Of course," Jaune said with a nod, then turned to the third occupant of the kitchen. "Pyrrha, do you need to rest?"

"I'll be fine." She replied with a smile, then let out a little laugh. "I suppose the tournament is going to have to change its name now though."

"Wait, do you have a match tomorrow?" Ruby cut in. "You don't have to stay up Pyrrha, we can do this later."

"She's competing in the ' _Ruby Rose Memorial Tournament'_ , funded by the Schnee Dust Company." Ruby spluttered at the name, and then more at the sponsor. It had to have been Weiss, but… Why? She then let out a giggle.

"What do you think would happen if I showed up tomorrow?" She started to laugh lightly.

"Maybe you should not do that." Jaune said with a tight smile.

"Really Pyrrha, you should sleep though."

"No, it's fine!" Pyrrha said with a warm smile on her face. "There's little I'd enjoy more than talking to you, Ruby." There was a genuine desire in her voice, and it warmed Ruby's heart.

"Thanks." Ruby hoped that Pyrrha knew how much it meant to her.

"Here, let's go sit in the other room." Jaune suggested, and Ruby followed him back into the adjacent room. She was sat down on the couch again, and Jaune and Pyrrha took a seat on the ottoman just across from her. Ruby noticed how close they were sitting. She looked at the rings on their fingers again, suspicious.

"So..." Ruby began, but Jaune and Pyrrha offered nothing. "You guys, um, are wearing rings." Pyrrha's face lit up with a smile, Jaune laughed.

"We are," He answered.

"And, well, uh, people normally wear rings when they really like each other."

"I've always liked Pyrrha."

"Yeah, but like, _like_ like, each other."

"That's true."

"And after like-liking each other for a while, they, you know, have a ceremony and stuff."

"That they do."

"And there they get rings."

"I'm pretty sure that's called marriage."

"And you guys are wearing rings."

"We are,"

"So, does that mean... You... Um..."

"Yes, last summer." Pyrrha said, smiling softly, hitting Jaune lightly for his antics.

Elation soared through Ruby for her two friends. Before she was entirely sure what she was doing, she had tackled the two of them to the ground in a tight hug.

"Yaaaaaaaaay!" She couldn't help but squeal, the joy bubbling up inside her, and beneath Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha laughed a little, their faces red. Ruby let them up a moment later, her own face flushing with embarrassment. "That's great!" She exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than normal.

"Thank you!" Pyrrha half laughed as she stood up and brushed herself off. Jaune got to his feet as well, and a few moments later they were all back in their original seats, the only difference was that Ruby was bouncing her legs up and down of the balls of her feet in excitement.

Then a thought struck her, and her legs stilled.

"I missed your wedding." She deadpanned, her voice low. For years, she had been trying to convince Jaune to ask Pyrrha out, or at least she thought she remembered that. Jaune had been one of her best friends at Beacon, maybe _the_ best friend she had, and she had missed what was probably the happiest day of his life. And Pyrrha's too. She never got to see the champion dressed in all white, dressed up and made beautiful for the biggest day she would ever have - even more important than the most important tournament finals.

She had missed their wedding. She had missed them smiling, and laughing, and dancing. Hell, she had probably missed their first kiss.

Silence hung heavily in the air for a moment, and across from her the couple shifted uncomfortably. Knowing she was causing distress, Ruby forced herself to perk up again.

"Tell me about it a bit." Ruby wanted to at least hear a bit about it.

So for the next half hour, Ruby listened to stories from their wedding. Jaune raved about how beautiful Pyrrha was, but not without adding that she was always that beautiful to him. Pyrrha smiled softly beside him, and the look of pure contentment on her face made Ruby grin foolishly for her friend. Ren had been the best man, and Nora, Blake, Yang and Weiss had been the bridesmaids. There had been no maid of honour, something quite unique. It had been a small celebration at Pyrrha's request, and that made sense to Ruby. Pyrrha was used to large events where she was the centre of attention, so a small, modest wedding with only close friends seemed suiting. Some of the Beacon staff had been there, both their families, team CFVY had even shown up. A few others that Ruby didn't know. As they talked about them, a few faint memories came back to Ruby. Not about many of them, but she started to remember a few things.

"Yang... She's my sister, right?" Ruby asked with a creased eyebrow, her headache starting to come back. Across from her, Jaune and Pyrrha shared a glance, a frown crossing Pyrrha's face for the first time.

"Half-sister," Jaune corrected. "But you guys were closer than most siblings I've ever met."

"And Blake?" Ruby asked. A picture had formed in her mind of a girl dressed in black and white reading a book, tucked into the corner of a bunk.

"She's Yang's partner. She's also a faunus, crazy skilled with a whip. Likes books."

"Yeah..." Ruby mused, a few thoughts returning to her. She didn't know how long it would take for her to remember everything, or if she ever would, but she was starting to re-form the memories of the people she knew. "Sorry, I interrupted."

"Eh, it's fine," Jaune said with a shrug of his shoulders, then launched back into the recounting.

Ruby laughed as they told her how Ren had cut himself a piece of the cake at the urging of Yang (who convinced him it was okay - no big deal) before the bride had had a chance to. That probably would have been a problem, but apparently Pyrrha had just laughed it off. After that, everyone had just helped themselves to the wedding cake. There had been an open bar, and apparently Yang somehow managed to get Blake, of all people, to enjoy it a bit too much. It had been the first time any of them had seen her inebriated.

"What is drunk Blake like?" Ruby had to ask. She laughed at the thought of it, but could not imagine how the faunus would have acted. She was still struggling to remember anything past the quiet exterior of the faunus.

"She spoke in rhyming couplets for a few hours, which kind of astonished everyone. Yang brought a laser pointer, and had a lot of fun with that. I'm pretty sure Yang was in a lot of trouble from Blake the next morning."

"I don't think that Blake remembered it." Pyrrha offered with a chuckle.

There was a sort of hollow happiness that Ruby felt as she heard the story. Her friends had enjoyed themselves a lot on that night, obviously, but there was a pang of sadness that she felt at having missed all of it. She wished she could have been there to see it. And that was just one night, how much more had she missed?

A pit began to open in her stomach, making her feel queasy and empty, and Ruby noticed she had unconsciously started hugging herself.

"What about Weiss?" Ruby asked, the name bringing back that flood of confusion that had come to be associated with the name. She hadn't heard much about the woman who had left her the note on the scroll other than she had attended the wedding, and she was hoping that maybe hearing more about her might help her remember.

"She..." Jaune trailed off, trying to find words. Fortunately, his wife came to his rescue.

"She took it pretty hard when you died. Your sister too. Yang went missing for a few days after, but when she came back, she was okay. Sad, of course, but at peace with what had happened. Weiss though, she threw herself into her work. She never really dealt with what had happened. Ever since, she's been... Different." Pyrrha's voice was light, like her words might break something fragile.

"She got quiet." Jaune added. "We only saw her on certain occasions. Weddings, special functions, reunions, but for the most part, we only heard about her on the news. She started to become a big name at her father's company."

"Oh," For some reason, that worried Ruby. She was quiet, thinking about everything that she had just heard. She wanted to know more, but she also wanted some time to think over what she was beginning to remember, as well as what had happened while she was gone.

"You should probably get some rest." Pyrrha suggested, almost like she could read Ruby's mind.. "Maybe things will be clearer in the morning." Ruby just nodded, then gave Pyrrha a forced smile. The couple stood across from her.

"We don't have a guest room, but you can sleep on the couch. Dust knows your sister crashes there enough." Jaune said with a hint of mirth.

"Thanks," Ruby responded, but couldn't muster up the strength to make her voice jump excitedly.

A few minutes passed with a little bit of bustling around as Pyrrha and Jaune prepared for bed. The former brought Ruby a few blankets and a soft feather-filled pillow, and gave her a brief hug.

"I'm glad you're here, Ruby." Pyrrha said with a kind, genuine smile. "It's so good to see you again."

Ruby readied her makeshift bed. Despite the couch being divided into a few sections, it made for quite a comfortable surface. The pillow fit against her head and neck perfectly, and Ruby could tell she wouldn't wake up with a kink in her neck. It was easily the most comfortable thing Ruby had slept on in the past three years. She giggled at herself for that one. Then immediately felt the pit come back.

Thoughts swirled around her mind though, pestering her, each one begging for attention. There was so much that Ruby had to process. First off, she was alive, and she shouldn't be. She had a sister, and a team, a partner and friends she could hardly remember. Even with the cake story, Ruby had difficulty picturing Ren. The best she could manage was green clothes and pink eyes.

Then there was the letter she had received when she woke up. Weiss had asked her not to look for answers to the questions she was presented with, but how could she not? She didn't even know what Weiss was to her. A partner, sure, but were they friends? Ruby didn't feel like that word meant enough, yet she couldn't grasp the memories that would allow her to define how she felt. Between coming back to life, the time gap, even the fact that Jaune had somehow managed to get Pyrrha to marry him, the strangest part of Ruby's life right now was the question pertaining to the heiress. It was the same question that Ruby had felt out in the forest, and with it came confusion and more questions.

Why wasn't she there with Ruby?

A deep sigh. There was no real point thinking about it. Maybe she could look for answers in the morning, but for now, there was little point. She was comfortable, and she felt her eyelids begin to grow heavy. She hadn't realized it, but she was really, really tired, and even that incessant thought faded as the fatigue took control. She felt like she had run a couple marathons back-to-back, then fought a few Nevermores just for kicks.

The lights in the kitchen adjacent to the room flickered off, and she saw a silhouette appear in the doorway.

"You alright?" Jaune whispered in the dark.

"Yeah," She started, then had to reconsider. "I just have one question."

"What is it?" He asked, stepping fully into the room.

"Weiss and I," She struggled to find words for a moment, trying to decide how to phrase her question. "Do you know what we were?"

"Well, you two were partners, and being close friends goes along with that." He said.

"Nothing more than that?"

"Not that I ever knew of." Jaune mused. "Why?"

"I don't know." Ruby answered, and she didn't. It just felt like there was more to it than friendship. Some sort of bond that went deeper. Whatever it was seemed to be the source of all the confusion she felt whenever that name was brought up. Having answered her question, Jaune stepped back towards the door, but stopped halfway through its threshold.

"Night, Ruby," He whispered over his shoulder. "And it's _really_ good to have you back." Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling.

That warm, comfortable feeling returned, and Ruby held onto it as she fell asleep. It helped to keep the empty pit threatening to consume her at bay.

* * *

 **Chapter two! Woot! Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading! Next one will be up either tomorrow or Thursday! Forgot to mention this last time, but thanks to TheBlueHedgehog for beta-ing the first few chapters! As per usual, thoughts, ideas, criticisms and reviews are all welcome and help me improve my writing, so if you have anything to say, go ahead!**

 **-Unjax**


	3. Chapter 3: Who She Is To Me

_Beep-beep._

The tone startled Ruby awake, clutching at the puffy blanket she had been sleeping with. The room around her was unfamiliar, but full of warm tones. There was a fireplace in one corner, but it wasn't alight, and the room was a little cold as a consequence.

Ruby wrapped the blanket around her more tightly as she remembered where she was. It was Jaune and Pyrrha's apartment. They were married now. Right, Ruby had missed all of that.

Her stomach sank a little as the thought hit her.

 _Beep-beep._

It was a small sound, and Ruby looked around her until she saw the offending scroll, green LED lit up. Ruby pulled the scroll towards her and opened it noting, not without irritation, that it was five-thirty in the morning. Who the hell would send her a message so early?

Then she remembered that it wasn't her scroll.

Then nervous butterflies swirled around her stomach.

There was only one person it could be from.

Ruby pulled the scroll open eagerly, clicking on the message button that popped up. It automatically went to the newest message, one of only two that were stored on the scroll.

 _Ruby,_

 _I suppose this is to be a welcome back. This should be a momentous occasion for me. The one thing I've desired more than anything else for the past three years... You're here. You're alive, and yet, I can't help but be sad._

 _I want to be there, Ruby. I want to see those silver pools of your eyes again, the cute little smile you have when you giggle, the way you sweep your bangs to the side when you're nervous. These are things I haven't been able to forget for years now, things that have plagued me, that have wrenched at my heart every time I think about you. And I_ have _thought about you a lot. It's been hard without you, Ruby._

 _Your little idiosyncrasies are not what I miss most though. It's the moments, the ones you may well have forgotten. The time you forced me to let you braid my hair - I was furious about that, but I could never stay mad at you. You laughed as you finished and led me by my hand to the mirror, forcing me to look at myself. It was a simple fishtail-braid, but I had never seen it on myself before. The way you beamed at me... I have never felt more beautiful in my life._

 _Do you remember that I wore my hair like that to our graduation? Everyone was so shocked and surprised that the meticulous Weiss Schnee would change her style, on graduation of all days. No one could understand why, and I didn't tell anyone. You knew though. You just smiled at me, and though we didn't talk as anything more than partners that night, I knew that you understood why I had done it._

 _It's these moments, Ruby, that have made me unable to escape what happened. I can't let them go. I'll never share moments like that with anyone else. They've become a part of who I am, so ingrained in me that it feels like a part of my soul has been ripped out with you gone. I can never rest peacefully knowing that you aren't here, by my side, when I need you the most._

 _I suppose the world has a very cruel sense of irony._

 _The memories are my salvation, though. Those little snippets, stolen away from the others, when it was just us two, you, shielding me from a world that was quickly devolving into hell towards the end. Just us, curled up together under the sheets, heavy breaths and tender whispers shared in privacy and intimacy that would never leave those walls. Entirely isolated in the world, we shared complete and perfect moments of utter happiness._

 _You always knew when I was hurting. You could tell that the SDC weighed me down, and that as we approached the end of our time at Beacon, it became worse and worse. Father insisted that I had had my fun, that it was time to get down to business. I didn't want to, of course. I wanted to be a huntress with you. I think you wanted that too, but you understood that I didn't have a choice. Not really. Not that I could see. No matter how much I could do to save people as a huntress, it would never be enough to undo the horrors that my father had inflicted on the world. Faunus labor was just the first thing, the one that was allowed to be publicized so that no one would go searching for the other heinous acts my father committed._

 _It ripped my heart out, but I knew that I couldn't go with you; I had to start working. It was such a heavy burden, but when I was around you, I felt so light I couldn't help but giggle with giddiness. You saved me from the world that I thought I had been forced into, but that I had really chosen for myself._

 _I know now what a mistake it was. I know that I should have ignored my father and become a huntress. You shouldn't have been alone that day. I should have been next to you, protecting you the way you had protected me for so many years. I should have protected you from the beasts of nightmares, if only to repay you saving me from the nightmare my life had become. I should never have let you go without me, but I did._

 _Yang and Blake, they've tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault. They say that even if I had been there, nothing could have been done. There would just be two corpses instead of one. I don't know if they're right or not, but I can't help but feel that it was my obligation to try. I didn't have the chance to, and I'll never know if I could have saved you. One way or another though, I should have been there. I know it's selfish, but I'd almost prefer it be two dead souls, sharing a grave, rather than one imprisoned in the earth and another imprisoned in a mind. No matter what, I should have been there._

 _I want you to know that I have no bigger regret. All the awful things that I've done in my life, none of them come close to abandoning you. You asked me to come, you practically begged me, but I dismissed you like you were some bothersome child. I thought I had things that were so much more important to do. Save the world through the corporate ladder - it was a moronic notion, but I clung to it._

 _I've already told you about that though. I suppose you just haven't caught up to it yet._

 _That was the last day I saw you._

 _I would give anything in the world to see you again, Rose. I haven't called you that in years, but you're alive now, and it feels okay to say. You've always been my Rose, the sweetest smelling flower. I had a garden for a while, just outside my office, laced with a few choice plants, but mostly corrupted by weeds. I couldn't bring myself to care for it, I couldn't really bring myself to care for much after you were gone. There was a nightshade in there, but soon it wilted, and I couldn't breath in its deadly scent anymore. There was also a daylily. It lasted a little longer, but before long even its brilliant yellow shine became monotone to me. It might have been an unweeded garden, but there was one flower amongst the things rank and gross that possessed it that made it all worthwhile: one little, budding Rose. It never wilted._

 _I wonder what it would be like to see you again, but more than that, what it would be like to experience you again. All of you, your laugh, your smile, the quips and remarks that made me laugh despite myself. Maybe, if you would forgive me, the whisper of your lips on mine. The ghostly echoes of hidden kisses from before haunt me still, like wraiths torturing me, making me know it can never happen again. There's a yearning in me, one that can never be realized, but it's there. I can't deny it. It burns just as brightly as the first day I told you, something that took me far too long to realize, and much longer to understand._

 _I love you, Ruby Rose. I want nothing but the best in the world for you._

 _I hope that Jaune and Pyrrha are treating you well. I don't have to hope though, I know they are. I have never met two more caring people in my life. They tried to help me for a long time, but I never let them. I hated myself, so I said horrible things to them, made them go away._

 _If you could, if there's ever a time, please apologize to them for me. It hurt so bad, and they were just being friends to me, but I couldn't stand the thought of having others that were close to me. Not after losing the most important person in my world. I was mad, I hated myself, and I took that out on them. Blake and Yang weren't around anymore, they were already gone, so I lashed out until there was no one left._

 _None of them knew what you were to me. I asked you to keep it a secret, and you did. My father made public statements that he accepted it, but it was for the presses. He never minded that others were like that, different in his view, but he would never have imagined that one of his own children would be like that. I think he always thought that he had constructed a legacy, a family name that would last. I wonder what he would say if I told him I would never have an heir to the company. I always thought that someday we could tell them, sometime in the future. I thought we had our entire lives ahead of us, and eventually, when enough time had passed, and I had worked up enough courage, we could tell him. I was so bound up in the eventuality of it that I forgot about the true inevitability. We all die at some point, and I didn't savour the life that you shared with me. I thought we would have more time. Always more time._

 _And we didn't._

 _None of them knew, and I wish they did. I can't tell them anymore, what would I say? How could I admit my cowardice? It's your secret to tell though, so if you wish, broadcast it as loudly as you want. I won't mind. This life is yours Ruby. I was enough of a burden to you before, but now it's all yours - I won't interfere. Do with it as you please. Just, whatever happens, promise me one thing. Promise me you'll be happy. Dust knows you deserve it._

 _-Weiss Schnee_

Ruby stared at the screen for a long while, utterly stunned.

At least now she knew why she felt differently about Weiss.

Each line of text brought a new memory back into sharp definition. She did remember the day that she had braided Weiss' hair. The heiress had grumbled the entire time as she had gone about her happy work, and when she was finished, she actually squealed in delight. Weiss looked beautiful like that. She looked even more beautiful on graduation.

Weiss had always looked beautiful.

The emotions that Ruby had been unable to label finally found a home in her heart. They finally made sense. The fear, anxiousness, delight, felicity, nervousness, anger, sadness... They all stemmed from one important notion. One that Ruby would never be able to escape. That she loved Weiss. And so the question remained:

 _Why wasn't she here?_

Overwhelming memories shunting around in her mind. She let them settle into place, filling gaps in the tumbled, ambiguous mess of her memories. The pit in her stomach, the sadness that she had felt at having missed so much of her friends' lives, tore open into a gaping abyss. It felt like someone had punched Ruby over and over in the stomach, and she wanted to keel over and cry.

But she just tucked her legs to her chest, hugging them close. She wouldn't cry, she didn't really feel the need to. She was confused as ever, but there were a few questions that had been answered. More had presented themselves, but certainly a few had been answered.

She didn't know how long she sat like that, rocking gently back and forth, doing what she could to soothe the anguish ripping at her gut. She began to feel almost numb, the utter abandonment overwhelming her. How could Weiss just leave her like that? It sounded like she thought she was doing Ruby a favour, but there was nothing Ruby wanted more than to see Weiss again. Then she wondered how she could have left Weiss like that? How could she have died and left the already isolated heiress completely alone, devoid of any company? She wanted to be mad at her partner, but in a way, she felt she deserved it.

Guilt hit her for the first time, and it suddenly seemed like the abyss of her insides dropped further. It felt like someone was slowly pulling her internal organs out, one by one, leaving empty space. A complete and utter void. That was one emotion Ruby would have been fine with never remembering.

"Ruby?" The voice shocked her, and Ruby gasped as her revery of misery was broken. Jaune was standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets and one leg kicked lackadaisically over the other, resting on its toe. He looked so comfortable and confident, Ruby wondered what had happened to the self-conscious boy she had met in front of Beacon. She supposed that in a way he had died, withered away, leaving nothing but a pillar of strength and composure.

"Yeah?" She tried for, but the words fell out of her mouth weakly. She was still recovering from the letter.

"Want some breakfast?" Ruby didn't want him to see how much she hurt, so she nodded and stood, tossing the blanket that had been covering her aside.

Breakfast was a simple affair, and it eased Ruby a little. She nibbled on a piece of toast covered in jam, though she didn't have the appetite to finish it. Jaune and Pyrrha ate considerably more. Jaune scrambled an entire carton of eggs with some cheese and no-fat margarine. They smelled good, but Ruby didn't want to eat anything more than her nibbles of toast. As the eggs cooked, bacon sizzled in a second pan beside the first, and a few minutes later, Jaune pulled both pans off the burners. He checked that Ruby didn't want anything, which she didn't, and then divvied it up onto two plates. He set one on his spot at the little, round, glass table in the kitchen before walking over to where Pyrrha had taken a seat. He set the second plate in front of her, then leaned down and kissed her.

Ruby had to avert her eyes, the tumult in her stomach churning more violently. If she couldn't find Weiss, she'd probably never experience something like that ever again.

They ate, mostly in silence. Not long after, Pyrrha smiled at Jaune, gave him a peck, and announced she had to leave to make it in time for warm-up. Jaune finished his plate, then began gathering the dishes. Ruby decided to help. As she rose, though, a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and gently pressed her back down into her seat.

"I don't know how much energy it takes to be resurrected, but it's a lot more than you're getting from half a piece of toast." He smiled at her kindly. "You've just come back from the dead Ruby, I'm not letting you starve yourself back."

So, Ruby continued to nibble on the bread. She forced herself to take small bites of the dusty food, hardly able to taste it due to the sensation in her stomach overwhelming her senses. She managed to choke it down without vomiting though, just about when Jaune finished cleaning the last pan. He wiped his hands off on a towel, then made his way over to her.

"So, miss Rose, what do you want to do today?" The name struck a dissonant chord in Ruby, bringing the letter back into mind. That was Weiss' name for her. No one else's. A flush of sorrow shot through her, and it was all Ruby could do to not cry.

"Please don't call me that." She whimpered, finding her voice after a moment.

"Oh, okay, sorry Ruby." Jaune said genuinely, placing his hand over hers comfortingly. "But is there anything you'd like to do now that you're, you know, not dead?"

Ruby averted her eyes, trying to calm her writhing intestines. She didn't remember dying, and she really didn't want to be reminded of what had happened. Dust, she had left Jaune and Pyrrha and all the others, _and_ _Weiss._ How could she have died? Ruby tucked her arms over her stomach, feeling like she might be sick.

Jaune paused at her discomfort, reconsidering his words. "Sorry," Ruby didn't answer. "I mean, what would you like to do today? It's supposed to be sunny."

Ruby managed to rip her mind away from the self loathing for a moment. She thought about the question for a second. There was one thing that she wanted, above all else. She wanted to see Weiss. She wanted to talk to her partner and find out what was going on, beg for forgiveness, just see her, but she couldn't do that without telling Jaune about the letters.

There was a second desire, something that popped into her mind out of nowhere. The thought made her smirk a little as it entered her mind, helping to dissipate the roiling of her insides.

"Let's go get some cookies." She said. Jaune laughed with a wicked grin.

* * *

 **Chapter three! This is getting fun! Thanks for the overwhelming support everyone. I think now's a good time to talk about length and structure. The letters will play a large part in reconstructing Ruby's memories, but re-meeting everyone and figuring out what's going on will take some time. So, I'm thinking this story will be pretty long. So, I have one more chapter saved up that I'll release tomorrow or friday, and then weekly updates after that. I don't want to burn myself out over this though, so I'm going to take the time to make sure every chapter is well done before release. As such, I won't set a date for releases, but they should come out within 6-10 days of one another.**

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it so far. Of course, ideas, thoughts, comments or criticisms are always helpful to my writing. 'Till next time!**

 **-Unjax**


	4. Chapter 4: Coffee

They walked down the street next to one another, letting the soft morning light of the Vale sun warm their skin. Ruby had forgotten what the gentle beams _felt_ like. She remembered the sun, but the way that it danced across her skin had eluded her memories - something she knew but lurked just under the surface of her conscious mind. They were temperate and pleasant, glowing against her pale complexion. She reached over and grabbed a cookie from the box that Jaune was holding open, offered to her: double chocolate chocolate-chip mint cookies, just her style Jaune had said. She popped the small biscuit into her mouth and let out a sigh of satisfaction as it melted in her mouth. The dark chocolate chips mixed with the more coco-y and powdery taste of the main cookie, making for a delightful combination.

"Mph," She started, then checked herself, swallowing before she continued. "So, if Pyrrha's a championship fighter, what do you do?" She reached for another cookie. Jaune laughed.

"Well, Pyrrha's not only a fighter. For the most part, the two of us hunt together. We take the jobs that would be dangerous for single huntsmen or huntress to do. A few weeks ago, we were out in the mountains taking out a nest of Nevermore. When we come back for tournaments though, I normally go do a couple seminars at Beacon."

"You're a teacher?" Ruby laughed a little.

"A... guest speaker." Jaune said.

"So, they have a guy who faked his transcripts teach students?" Ruby stopped in her tracks. She didn't know where that memory came from. It took Jaune another few paces to realize she wasn't beside him anymore. He turned back to her.

"Oh come on, I'm not _that_ bad." Jaune complained. Ruby smiled thinly at him and shook her head.

"Sorry, no, that wasn't you." She jogged a few steps to catch up. He looked at her funnily, but let it slide.

Ruby hadn't remembered Vale, but each step down the streets became more familiar. She had never memorized the streets or the shops, but there had always been a certain air to the town. Sleek buildings, bustling people, the low humming of traffic and the smell of mocha lingering in the air from corner cafes. It felt nice, comfortable even. Like home in a way.

"So, were you supposed to be teaching today?"

"Not a teacher!" He moaned exasperatedly. "That makes me sound like an old blustering dude with a big mustache. But yeah, I was."

"Oh," Ruby mumbled. She had been hoping that she wasn't interrupting his schedule. "Sorry."

He laughed loudly beside her.

"Sorry?" He exclaimed, reaching around and grabbing Ruby's arms. A perfectly good box of cookies crashed to the ground, much to her disdain. "One of my best friends comes back from the dead, and you think I'd go talk to a bunch of students for hours instead of hanging out with her?" He crushed her in a hug. Ruby gave an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Well, I mean, I didn't exactly plan to break up any plans or anything." She muttered as she broke away.

"Eh, you could have crashed through the roof at my wedding and crushed the cake and I wouldn't have minded one bit."

"Sounds to me like the cake wasn't a big deal." Ruby managed to squeak out past the pressure on her chest at the reminder of what she had missed. It felt like a Taijitu was squeezing her lungs, constricting them, but she smiled anyways.

"It's Ren, you can't ever really be mad at the guy." They walked for a few steps in silence. Ruby didn't know what to say. She just looked down, counting the cracks in the sidewalk as she fell into an easy walking cadence. _Left, right, left, right..._ She counted the steps off, letting them blot out the thoughts that were threatening to sink her back into that cold void she had experienced in the morning.

Suddenly she was yanked to the side. "Come on," Jaune said with a grin, pulling her into a small cafe that had warm, chocolaty coloured paintings decorating the inside. There were barrels, actual wooden barrels with different coffee bean company logos on them, stacked on one side and a small sitting room on the other. It had six circular tables made of stained wood, surrounded by chairs.

Ruby's gaze drifted around the room, finding its way to the counter. Three blackboards covered with chalk marks and sketches of coffee mugs and beans lined the back wall in front of a stout counter with a few steam machines and grinders spanning it. In the middle a woman wearing dark sunglasses and a beret, slightly tilted to the side, topped off with a black leather jacket, was leaned over on her elbows, which were crossed in front of her. As Ruby and Jaune walked up, she reached up lazily with one hand and pulled the dark aviators down to the brim of her nose, eyeing the newcomers. She was chewing on something, her mouth open as she masticated. She looked familiar.

"Hey Coco!" Jaune chirped as he walked up to the counter. Ruby paused a few steps back, studying the woman. The two scrutinized one another, and after a while, Coco started to turn to Jaune, though her eyes lingered on Ruby for a second longer.

"The Ruby Rose I know had silver eyes." She drawled. Jaune looked confused for a moment before horrified realization dawned on him.

"Oh crap! You were at Beacon too."

"Sure was," the woman answered lackadaisically.

"That means you know Ruby."

"Sure do,"

"Damn," Jaune turned to Ruby sheepishly, his hand coming to rest on his neck a little nervously. "Um, so, Ruby, this is Coco."

Ruby looked at Coco, who gave her a two finger salute before returning her forearm to the countertop. There were a few memories that started to come back to her, most notably about a few advanced weapon design classes she had taken. She remembered Coco being in one, modifying her weapon.

"You're the one with the box mini-gun." Ruby said, a little bit of excited energy bubbling up inside her. "Three thousand round chamber, thirty bullets a second, able to sustain 100 seconds of continuous firing, fully collapsable-" Ruby cut herself off. "Sorry," She murmured at the bewildered look on Jaune's face. Coco seemed unchanged. "Guess I'm a bit of a weapons geek." Ruby grumbled quietly.

"Jaune," Coco said, never removing her gaze from Ruby.

"Mhm?"

"She," Coco raised a hand and jabbed a finger sharply at Ruby. "was dead."

"Yep, and now she's not." Coco just stared at him pointedly. Jaune sighed heavily. "Look, we aren't entirely sure what happened. Ruby doesn't remember a whole lot either, and we're just taking this slow. She's getting used to all of this." The two looked at each other for a moment, silent understanding passing between them as Ruby observed. She felt left out. Finally, Coco nodded.

"Alright, I'll keep it down for a while. Just next time, maybe don't go into the one coffee shop owned by people she knows."

"Yeah, that was dumb."

"Yes it was." Coco affirmed with a sharp nod, then turned back to Ruby, leaning up from the counter. "So, which of the finest drinks in the world can I get you for your first coffee back on Remnant? It's on the house." Ruby grinned, checking the chalkboards behind Coco. She found one that she immediately wanted.

"Ooh!" She sang excitedly, bouncing up and down on her heels. "Can I have the double chocolate mocha with chocolate sprinkles on top?" Somewhere, Ruby registered that she might _possibly_ have a sweet tooth. Coco gave her the vaguest hint of a smile, which Ruby figured was as expressive as she got.

"Jaune?" She asked. He ordered some plain coffee, which Coco seemed a little displeased with. "Not very creative. You get to pay for yours. Go on and have a seat, I'll bring 'em over when they're done." She said as she made two quick notes on a pad of paper. Jaune nodded and started to walk over to the seating area, Ruby in tow.

"Oh, and Ruby?" The call turned Ruby back to the countertop. "If you need help kicking those Deathstalkers' asses, don't hesitate to call." She nonchalantly flipped a business card at Ruby, who caught it between the palms of her hands, clapping down on it. She smiled appreciatively at the cafe's owner.

Jaune and Ruby took their seats. Her leg bounced up and down, and Ruby toyed with the edge of her sleeve, which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be quite frayed. She frowned as she looked at it.

"Sorry about that," Jaune apologized, but Ruby just shrugged. Meeting Coco was the least of her problems. She was thinking about the letter she had received on the scroll that morning.

"No matter," She answered curtly, not making eye contact.

The letter had mentioned something about Ruby going away by herself. Ruby tried to force the memory, but it didn't come easily like some other ones did. It seemed like the further back she thought, the easier the memories were; the closer she got to her death, the blurrier they became. Ruby shivered despite the summer air. The thought that she had been dead terrified her.

Ruby knew she had trained hard. She had even been bumped up a couple years to attend Beacon. She remembered being good, though probably not the best. Her training hadn't mattered in the end though. She had ended up in the middle of some forest, and she had died on the edge of a cliff.

She had _died_.

A brief image of her body with maggots crawling over it came into vivid clarity in her mind, slimy swarms crawling through her bones and gnawing away at her flesh, and Ruby couldn't control the convulsion that accompanied it. She was almost glad she didn't remember it. When she thought of dying, all that came to her was the vague sensation of a cold void, seeping at her. It wasn't dissimilar to the way Ruby had felt that morning.

"So," She started, still toying with her sleeve and her leg still bouncing incessantly under the table. "Deathstalkers?"

"Yeah," Jaune looked uncomfortable. "As best we can tell."

"Jaune, if you don't want to talk about this, we don't have to." She could see the pain in his ever blue eyes. It seemed that only hers had changed. These were not memories he wanted to dredge up. Ruby had it easy - she had simply died. It had been those she had left behind that had suffered. She knew that. Once again, guilt gnawed at her stomach, widening the ever-growing pit inside.

"No, you should know as much as you can." He shook his head, his blond hair sweeping over his brow. A deep breath, and a hasty release. "It was third year out of Beacon. Do you remember the protocol for new hunters?" She shook her head. "The first four years after graduation, you're supposed to hunt with a partner. It's a loose rule, and depending on the hunt and the huntsmans' or huntresses' skill, it gets bent a lot. Small Beowolf packs don't require two hunters, but they don't want a bunch of kids fresh out of school taking on big jobs single handedly.

"You were one of the best students, so you got a lot of leeway. Weiss started working for her father's company, and didn't really go on many hunts with you. I'm not going to pretend to know what was happening between you two, but it seemed tense.

"You got a job clearing out a Deathstalker breeding lair. They anticipated there would be four of them, two pairs, and recommended you didn't go alone. You seemed pretty set on doing it yourself though, so they let you. Ruby Rose, wonder-girl." There was a bitter note in his voice. Coco walked up to the two, placing a small dish in front of each of them with a wide cup sitting atop it. Ruby breathed in a waft of chocolatey coffee, but unlike earlier with the cookies, the sweet scent didn't excite her. The guilt was turning all sensation she felt into dust.

"Jaune," She started, looking up from her wide brimmed cup. She shifted her gaze to his eyes, which were meeting hers brusquely. There was compassion and sympathy in there, but also anger and pain. It had been Ruby's fault that she died. Weiss said that Ruby had come to her in the letter, but that shouldn't have mattered. Four Deathstalkers by herself? Ruby should never have gone. It wasn't just about her life, or doing what the hero would do, it was about the shattered look in Jaune's eyes. "I'm sorry." She knew the simple phrase would never be enough. She didn't know if she could ever redeem herself for what she had done to him, to all of them.

"I'm not going to say it's okay." Jaune's voice was dangerously low, for the first time not cheery and upbeat. "You shouldn't have gone. You left, and you never came back. I don't know if you even thought twice about it."

The faint memories of who she used to be told her that she probably hadn't. Up until the point the last of her life had drained away, Ruby had probably thought she was doing the right thing.

"Don't ever do it again." He warned, then took a long sip of coffee.

They finished their drinks in silence. The draining guilt and the gaping abyss struggling for control. She found herself hoping she'd drop into that hollow pit more often. It was stagnant and cold, devoid of anything, but it didn't hurt the way the guilt did. It didn't make her want to scream and cry, tear her hair out and go back in time and stop herself. It just made her want to curl up, sob silently, and return to where she had been the past three years.

Ruby did none of those things though. She took little sips of the dark liquid in front of her. It was an odd experience. She could taste the swirling flavours, admire the mastery and care taken to make sure that each ingredient complimented the next. It was a marvellous blend, Ruby could feel it on her tastebuds. Despite that, it was like she was observing the taste from afar. She was detached from it, experiencing it, but nonetheless feeling like she might as well be drinking tar. She could taste it, but she didn't really register it. Her mind was preoccupied with the competing horrors trying to overwhelm her.

She wondered if it would ever go away.

* * *

 **Chapter four marks the end of my buffer... So chapters will slow down now. Hope you're enjoying it so far! We get Jaune being a bit oblivious again, and some more backstory for Ruby. Thanks for reading, and any comments, criticisms or ideas are more than welcome!**

 **-Unjax**


	5. Chapter 5: Ghosts of the Past

Ruby met her own gaze in the mirror of the dressing room. Jaune had convinced her she needed new clothes due to the tattered and frayed state of her old ones. He hadn't been wrong. They went shopping, but no matter how many outfits Ruby tried on, she never saw them in the mirror.

All she saw were her eyes.

They looked like little glints of a glacier. Frozen water trapped in time. Red hair, red cape, black boots, black dress, and then _blue_ eyes. Apparently they used to be silver.

She couldn't get used to it. They felt wrong, like they weren't hers. It made her feel like she had left part of herself behind when she had come back.

She slowly reached her hand up and gently ran her fingers under her eyes. Ruby could feel the pores of her skin, could see them in vivid clarity. She could see her dark long eyelashes, curved elegantly above her eyes. Everything fit and matched and felt like Ruby, except those icy little glints.

Jaune would probably be wondering what was taking her so long about now. Ruby turned, opened the door to the dressing room, and stepped out into the fluorescently lit back of the shop. It wasn't particularly large, maybe twenty paces by thirty, but the door just behind Jaune on the opposite wall opened up into another room, twice the size of this one, filled to the brim with a variety of combat clothes. Ruby had tried on a lot of different ones so far; she couldn't remember any of them.

"Purple might not suit you." Jaune murmured, and Ruby suddenly refocused, temporarily forgetting her eyes. She looked down at her dress, realizing for the first time that what she had put on was a deep purple. It was a dress that fit her tightly with long sleeves and went down to her knees. The material was stretchy, so she could move fine in it. Ruby didn't mind it, she didn't mind much of anything at that moment.

"Someone once told me everything goes with grey." Ruby said absent mindedly. She knew exactly who had said that. "Or maybe black."

"I'll go see if I can find something." Jaune said, standing from his place on the waiting bench.

Ruby shuffled her feet and swung her torso from side to side uncomfortably as she waited. Jaune returned a moment later with a tight grey shirt accented by a frilled black combat skirt. Ruby took it and re-entered the dressing stall.

As she shut the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of her old vestments behind her. Her gaze caught on the long flowing cloak that hung from the door, swishing softly from it closing. Ruby put on the new clothes, but her eyes never left the cloak as it grew still. When she finished, she turned around and ran her fingers through it, feeling the material. It was soft but worn down; something she had obviously had for years. She didn't know why, but it was important to her.

A memory began to tug in her mind. Ruby closed her eyes, trying to stop herself from thinking; clearing her head. She had quickly learned that was the best way to do it. She could claw at the vague formation of the memories, but they always seemed to get farther away. When she did this though, it seemed to-

" _Take care, dear." A tight smile on pink lips, framed by tanned skin. A comforting hand as a cloak, too large for a little girl like her, was draped around her shoulders._

" _Can't you stay?" Fear in her voice. She didn't want this._

" _I'll be back soon sweetie. Yang will take care of you, and if you get scared at night, just hug this cloak around you. I've never felt scared in it, neither will you"_

 _Ruby opened her mouth to speak and-_

She blinked. She frowned. The memory was fading, getting pulled further from her conscious mind. She tried to remember scraps, details, any words, but soon she was forgetting it all.

That had never happened before.

And then a thought entered her mind that chilled her spine.

 _What if this happens again?_

What if the few memories Ruby had of Weiss left her? What if she would never remember any of the others? Weiss had hinted that there were so many times, and maybe she would learn more in the letters, but words on a page meant nothing to Ruby if she didn't know how they had felt. She had only just started to remember Weiss, how could she live with forgetting her? What happened if there was nothing left but the knowledge that could never leave; that without Weiss, there would always be an empty hole inside Ruby.

She desperately grabbed the handle and threw it open. Jaune started at her alarming exit of the stall.

"Ruby?" He questioned. "Are you alright?"

"I-" She cut herself off. She had no idea what to say. She couldn't say much about Weiss, not without revealing the letters, and she didn't know how to justify herself. "I need to go." She finally blurted out. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice pestered her that what she was doing was nothing like her at all.

"Wait, but what about your clothes?" Ruby looked down at herself. Everything matches with grey, even her new eyes.

"These ones are fine." She said. She reached around the door, grabbed her cloak, attached it to the dress and stormed out of the room. She walked through the rest of the shop, and a clerk tried to stop her on her way out. Ruby hardly registered her even as Jaune tried to calm the clerk informing her he'd pay. She was focused on one thing only:

She had to find Weiss.

* * *

Yang let her hand drift to the side, sweeping through the dewy leaves of the garden. Beautiful flowers, each a starburst of vibrant color, stood tall and tickled her exposed thighs, leaving behind faint drops of morning moisture that beaded up on her. The trees were in full bloom as well, pink and violet blossoms opening up to the world, almost as if to compliment the sheer liveliness of the scene. Hidden birds sang to one another and insects chirped and buzzed. The garden was abuzz with life, busy in a sense, but Yang found in calm and peaceful. Day lilies grew next to nightshades whose stems were twirled around roses, everything existing in such perfect harmony that Yang couldn't help but smile.

"Yang! Look! Squirrel!" Ruby piped up from beside her, and Yang followed her sister's extended arm to a mid-sized birch just ahead of them. Indeed, atop it was perched a small russet colored squirrel nibbling on the edge of a white lily.

Yang looked back at her excited little sister, feeling pride and love swell in her chest. It was so good to see her so full of energy and happiness. Ruby was still fixated on the scene around them, the beautiful landscape that seemed almost surreal in its perfection. Yang wasn't sure why, but she couldn't stop glancing over at Ruby, every time she did so a small smile appearing on her lips.

"We should have brought Zwei with us." Ruby said, her voice never losing its energetic zeal.

"I think he would have just eaten all the flowers." Yang mused. Ruby laughed, that bell-like peal that seemed to ring clear. It reminded Yang of the sunsets that happened here in Patch. It was a small island, but its temperate climate meant that the sun shone through the sky ceaselessly throughout the year. When they were little, Yang and Ruby used to always sit on the roof of their house and watch it sink slowly behind the horizon, growing red as it faded from the world. Eventually, their dad would come out and, with a sad smile - his smiles were always sad after Summer - tell them to hurry off to bed. Sometimes they did, but during the summer months, they would always sneak back out and watch the stars appear.

Yang loved those moments. She loved looking out and watching as the night grew deeper and the stars burned brighter. They would ignite the sky, swirls of white pinpricks, some faintly tinted blue or red, dotting the deep blue of the atmosphere. She loved Patch for that; no matter if it was winter or summer, day or night, cold or warm, it never felt dark there. As the sun got more distant, the stars grew in brightness until it might as well have never left. The constant wind shifts blew away any storms that threatened the island, so rain or hail never lasted more than half an hour.

And there was no more perfect a testament to the island than the garden they were in now. Yang knew that, no matter what, she could be happy there.

Yang, still smiling, was pulled from her reverie as rose petals tickled her nose. A few floated around where her sister used to be, and Yang looked ahead unworriedly, searching for her. Ruby was twenty feet away, lying on the ground just in front of a small overhanging bush, her arms crossed in front of her with her chin resting on them. Yang could make out a little ball of fur hiding in the shadows of the flora with a little pink nose. Yang watched, one hand rising to rest on her other elbow, as the bunny slowly moved out from under the bush, its little nose twitching incessantly as it approached. Anywhere else in the world, it likely would have fled, but here on Patch there were no wolves or foxes, so the wildlife had become somewhat tame. On top of that, Ruby had always been good with animals.

She waited patiently as the bunny sniffed at her, assessing her, determining if she was a threat. Ruby just lay there, her silver eyes trailing the rabbit quietly. Seconds passed, or it could have been minutes, time had no hold on Yang in such a blissful moment, and the rabbit got even closer. Its whiskers brushed her arm, it padded forward, and then it nuzzled her hand slightly. Ruby, careful not to startle the creature, raised her hand ever so slowly, and then with her index finger rubbed a small circle on the rabbit's head. It let out a soft squeak, something that had once upon a time only ever been used in moments of terror and panic, but now had a more peaceful and amicable nature.

The rabbit leaned forward and its nosed poked hers. Ruby muffled a giggle and Yang couldn't help but let out a cheerful laugh as she watched her sister. She looked to the side as she passed a particularly colorful batch of flowers. She extended her hand to them and caressed them. Orange, yellow and red they were, her colors, and Yang leaned forward to smell them. An aroma of soft springs running from mountains, fresh grass, and sunny days filled her senses, and Yang breathed deeply and happily. She glanced back over at Ruby, who was now on her knees, holding her hands out as if offering something to the creature, who was inspecting them accordingly. Knowing there was no real threat, it placed one paw on her hand, then worked its way up until it was sitting in Ruby's cupped hands. It lay down, nuzzled its nose into Ruby's forearms, brought a paw up over its ear as if to itch it, then curled up in a little ball. Ruby stood slowly, bringing the rabbit up to her chest, her eyes locked on it the whole time. A smile cracked her face from ear to ear.

"Yang!" Ruby whisper-yelled. "Look!" Ruby's eyes met hers, and Yang smiled back at her sister.

And then there was a sickening squelch as a dark spike split Ruby's chest open like meat on a skewer. Ruby's eyes shot wide, her smile wicked from her face. Yang froze, feeling like it had been her chest that had just split open, her intestines grinding around inside her at the sight. Ruby looked down at the stinger covered in her own dark blood, then back up at Yang. Her mouth moved like she was trying to make words, but nothing came out but a trickle of thick blood dripping down Ruby's mouth and gagging, as if she were choking on her own blood.

The trees next to Yang withered in a second, their leaves crumpling up as if the very life had been sucked out of them by some vampiric force and they fell to ashes to reveal thick, metallic thorns that shot out of the warped and twisted branches of the garden. The sky above her darkened until it was pitch black and nothing existed except for the thorns and her sister impaled on the Deathstalker's tail, lit in a hauntingly flat grey light.

There was a sickening moment of silence, the two girls looking one another in the eye. Yang could see tears in Ruby's eyes and the glossy patch of soaked material where the blood had pooled on Ruby's dress spreading like some foul disease.

Then another of the pike-like spikes shot out of the darkness faster than Yang could see and ripped through the side of Ruby's torso, sending flecks of crimson liquid flying. Some of it splattered onto Yang's pale skin, and she gagged as the metallic scent permeated her senses. She looked back up just to watch a third stinger rip through her sister's leg.

"Ruby!" Yang screamed, so loud she could feel fibers of her vocal cords shred as she was shocked back into movement. It felt like she was running through syrup though, and her strides brought her no closer. She watched as her little sister was lifted into the air, Yang reaching her arm forward to try and get to her sister, to grasp her, to pull her away, but the world stretched out between them, growing darker and darker, until all that Yang could see was Ruby's head, limp and at an odd angle from her neck, the gob of bloodied saliva that was strung from the bottom of her chin wavering slightly as the tails pulled her further away, and two glazed, dead, lifeless silver eyes.

* * *

"Ruby!" Yang's scream echoed off the unseen walls of the apartment, Yang's torso shooting off the bed as the name ripped itself from her mouth. Her entire body convulsed, there was a bitter taste in her mouth, and her throat was tight and hoarse, like she wanted to be ill. Sweat covered her body, plastering her bare skin and making her soaked bed sheets cling to her body even as she fought to throw them off.

"Yang?" A gruff, drowsy voice asked from beside her in bed, but Yang ignored it.

She stood shakily, moving swiftly to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, throwing the light switch so hard it snapped off. She collapsed, her elbows catching on the sides of the sink and her body slouching into it, her forehead coming to rest on the palms of her clenched fists. A sob tore through her body, and Yang felt wet streaks fall down her cheeks as she gasped for breath. She sucked one in, only to have it come out quick and raspy, hardly staying in her lungs at all. Her chest heaved as she whimpered, the tears coating her hands and making them slippery, running down her forearms until they covered her elbows. Yang slipped, and hardly staggered as she fell hard onto her side.

Her body instinctively curled up into a ball to try and ward off the pain she was feeling, to protect her, but there was nothing in the world that could protect Yang from this.

* * *

 **A/N: And suddenly the rating jumps to T**

 **So, I gave myself ten days, and took them all. I wanted to make sure that the chapter came out alright because it's setting up a big sub-plot. Yang's going to be a relatively important character in this story, and next to the Ruby/Weiss half of things, she's going to play the biggest part in this story. Despite coming off as alright to everyone... Well, maybe the party girl isn't quite as happy.**

 **I'm hoping to get the next chapter out a bit faster. The next few chapters will have a few more character introductions, but other than that, the stage is pretty much set! Hope you're all enjoying the read! Till the next update.**

 **-Unjax**


	6. Chapter 6: The Ghost

_**One month ago:**_

Blake pushed the thin wooden door open and stepped through briskly, a grimace crossing her face ever so slightly. She didn't like this place at all. The small tavern was filled with oily and smelly inhabitants, all seated at small round tables scattered throughout the space. The roof hung low so it always felt cramped when she walked, and the lighting was a dim yellow, casting an eerie tinge on everything. It didn't scare her - being a huntress meant she very seldom felt fear any longer - but it did nothing but offend her nose and make her feel like she wanted to take a shower.

Most of those around her were dressed in ratty old hoodies and ripped jeans, drinking heavy whiskies from large mugs and smelled as if they had been doing so for hours despite the fact that it was hardly noon. There were streaks of dirt on the floor, and occasionally she would step on a sticky spot where liquor had been recently spilled.

There was, however, one element of the tavern that stuck out oddly. A tall blonde woman with shining gold hair was sitting at the bar, and though her back was slouched, she was wearing a dirty tank-top, and her hair was disheveled, she held an elegant beauty dissimilar to everything else in the bar. Most of the creatures that inhabited this place had gotten the worst hands life could deal and had never bothered to fight it, but this one woman looked like an angel; she belonged at the top of the world, but had fallen to the pits to skulk with the devils.

Blake walked up to the counter, doing her best to be inconspicuous. She could empathize with these people; she had not been born in the most favourable of positions, but she had risen to the top through hard work and perseverance, where they had let themselves be beaten by the world. She sat down next to the blonde, and held two fingers out to the bar tender.

"Slummin' it again?" Yang asked, not removing her eyes from the glass in front of her. It was a grimy thing, a foggy film coated the inside and a sickly yellow fluid filled it. "Been a while."

"You still insist on coming here." Blake answered as the bartender set her own drink down with a heavy _thud_. Yang shrugged.

"Once a party girl, always a party girl."

"Fun party, nice friends." Yang gave a nonchalant shrug and smiled.

"They aren't such bad people."

"They aren't such good people either."

"Guess you'd be the expert there." Yang raised the glass, winked at Blake, and downed its contents with one gulp. Blake remembered when the woman would grimace at that. There was no longer any reaction. She took a sip of her own, fighting down a responsive gag.

"You're not going hunting today, are you?" She asked, concerned. Yang shook her head.

"Bad night last night." Yang said with another shrug, her voice never losing its faux enthusiasm. "Didn't get much sleep."

"Drugs, sex and alcohol tend to do that to you the next morning." Blake hoped that the sadness in her voice didn't show too much. They had fought enough. Blake just enjoyed the brief moments they got to spend together now, as distant and unattached as they might have been. Yang gave a gruff laugh.

"Yeah, something like that. Never get a headache if you just keep going though."

"Right," Blake said through a thin smile. She no longer knew how to talk to Yang. She often wondered why she still made the trip down to this pig-stie every week - though that routine had slipped as of late. Once a week had turned into every two weeks, then once a month, then longer still. But still she came. She couldn't help but wonder if she was hoping that someday she would walk in and the girl from three years ago would be waiting for her. Buoyant, happy, joyous…

Yang could still be like that sometimes. It seldom happened, but every once in awhile Blake would see a spark in her old partner's eye and a mischievous grin on her face. It was rare, and hardly lasted more than a second or two before fading, but Blake would give anything in the world to see it for an infinitesimally small time. The last time Yang had been Yang was at Jaune and Pyrrha's wedding. Blake wasn't sure what it was about the setting - maybe that everyone there was celebrating new lives and could briefly forget their old ones, or that they all shared her pain - but whatever it was, Yang had actually had fun. Not this masked misery hidden behind smiles that never touched her eyes, but actual, genuine fun.

That gave Blake hope.

But hope was dangerous, and every day Blake feared more and more that it was unfounded and that she was chasing the ghost of the woman she once knew. Hope was the precursor of pain.

"I could really use your help on this hunt."

"Please, you're Atlas' top huntress right now! You can handle it. We wouldn't want the citizens questioning their hero, would we?"

"You say that as if helping people is a bad thing."

"Helping people is fine. But being the hero-" Yang's voice quavered for a moment. Her smile dropped, just for a second, but Blake didn't miss it. Blake never missed it, and every single time it felt like someone was squeezing her chest when she saw it. "That was always Ruby. Be the best there was so that the people would never have to be scared. She could give them hope."

"She would want us to do that in her stead."

"What she wants hardly matters anymore." Yang looked down at her glass, recently refilled. Blake winced as the blonde picked it up, swirled its contents around, then downed it again.

Time and again she had wondered if she should ask the others for help. She and Yang had moved to Atlas to get away from Vale after _it_ had happened, so they didn't see much of what was happening to Yang. Whenever they visited, Yang would be energetic and charming, but after they left she would be reduced once again to a hollow husk with a joker's smile. Even Blake seldom saw it. Half an hour or so once a week, and she had gone months without seeing the blonde. She could hardly be sure if what she was seeing was how Yang truly was or not. The horrifying possibility was that what Blake saw now, this broken angel, _was_ the dressed up version… It horrified her.

She doubted Yang minded either way, whether she showed up or not, but there was always a twinge of guilt in her stomach when she didn't. Yang was keeping up, doing as many jobs as she had to to pay the bills and keep her head above water, but there was no change. She wasn't really living, she was just staying alive.

"Yang, it's going to be a long hunt. I might not see you for a while."

"That's okay. Maybe you shouldn't come back after."

Blake stared, her heart skipping a beat.

"Yang?" She asked dumbly, trying to register the words. They hurt more than she wanted to admit, like the one phrase was crushing her innards into a black hole.

"Look, do you want to know why I moved to Atlas?" Blake didn't answer. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or something serious that was making Yang talk, but Blake had a feeling she should hold her tongue. "It's not because there's too many memories in Vale. Those followed me anyways. I have nightmares all the time and-"

Yang broke off, taking a shaky breath. Blake wanted to reach forward and comfort her with a touch, but knew it would be a bad idea.

"I moved here because I needed to get away from everything I knew. There's too many connections in Vale. But here, I haven't heard from Weiss in years. I don't know how she or Jaune or anyone else is doing. As far as I know, they're all alive and well and happy. But if something happened to any of them, and I was in Vale, I'd hear about it. Out here, I never have to know."

"You see Jaune and Pyrrha every once in awhile."

"Yeah, once a year. When I go to see their graves." Yang picked the glass up and stared Blake in the eye. "This? This is literally a tuesday for me Blake. I know the way you look at me when I'm here, but imagine, if this is what I'm like now, what would I be like when I force myself to go see the ceremonial rock that doesn't even hold my sister's body because there wasn't enough of her left to bury?" Yang's eyes smoldered as she looked at Blake, the slightest hint of red invaded the otherwise beautiful lavender.

Blake just stared, one of her ears twitching involuntarily. She could believe what she was hearing far too easily. "That wouldn't change whether or not they were okay though. You're just living a lie." Yang shrugged nonchalantly.

"I can't go through that again Blake. Do you know what it's like when you don't come for a week? A month? I can't help but worry and wonder if you're..." Yang struggled to get the last word out, but Blake knew the pain that came with that. She knew why Yang couldn't say it. "So don't come back next time." The blonde finished, her voice wobbling uncertainly.

"I won't die Yang, I wouldn't-"

"What? Leave me?" Crimson sparks flashed through her eyes as Yang slammed her fist on the ground. Blake felt her fists curl. "You won't die? Won't get ripped apart by a nest of Deathstalkers? Won't get skewered on their dust-damned tails? How can you promise me that?"

Blake tried to meet Yang's gaze, but she couldn't. There was no guarantee; that was part of the job. She might die.

"You can't live like this." Blake practically begged. "You're disgracing everything you stood for." Yang just let out a low chuckle.

"What in the hell makes you think I want to live?" Blake's breath caught in her chest. Freezing ice grasped her lungs, making her incapable of moving but wanting to gasp. This couldn't be happening.

"Yang," She whispered hoarsely. "I can't lose you,"

"You should leave."

"Yang, don't do thi-"

"Please go." Yang's head was bowed, like something had defeated her and she was awaiting an execution. When she looked up, there was no trace of red. Nothing so strong as anger. It was just two cracked chips of amethyst.

Blake didn't want to. The last thing she wanted to do was leave her ex-partner's side. But maybe who she was talking to wasn't her ex-partner. Maybe this wasn't Yang. Maybe the nightmares - what had happened - were too much, and to survive, she had had to change. Fragment in a way, lose the parts of her that made her Yang. Lose the joy, lose the love, and lose the hope...

And the question remained: Had the grief left anything behind?

This was why hope was dangerous, she decided. It was what Blake had feared for so long but hadn't let herself believe. What she was hearing now though, it couldn't be argued… Yang was gone.

And she would never be coming back.

"O-" Blake broke off, almost choking on the words. Her vision blurred from brimming tears, and she felt a catch in her throat so strong she could hardly speak around it. But she forced herself to. "Okay." She managed, her voice hoarse and raspy.

She stood, pushing the stool behind her out of the way and storming off, not thinking about what had just happened. Something clattered to the ground behind her, but Blake couldn't bring herself to look back. She brought her fist up to her mouth, biting down on her own soft flesh hard, trying to overwhelm the screaming agony in her mind with physical.

 _No, no, no…_

She brushed a tear out of her eye before it could fall of its own accord.

 _Not her..._

She ripped the door open and whipped it closed behind her, slumping against the brick wall that framed the entrance. It felt like there were a thousand voices in her mind, screeching at her, like a million shards of broken glass were cutting her insides, like a white hot iron stake was being shoved through her chest-

 _Nononononono…_

She screamed into her curled up legs, feeling her throat give out and as her voice cracked. She didn't stop though. She kept screaming, silently, everything inside her compressing, crushing, draining-

 _NONONONONO…_

She ran out of breath and her body reflexively inhaled. She choked on the breath, coughed it out, sucked in another frantically, hyperventilating.

She looked to the sky, almost as though posing it an impossible question. Her stomach was drowning, her heart beat against thorns. She didn't want to lose Yang. Not like this. Not so suddenly and not from a drunken stupor. She didn't want to lose the partner she had had. Someone she trusted, cared for, _loved_ for so long…

But Yang was already gone.

So Blake just cried for the second friend she had lost three years ago, but had only just now come to realize had died.

* * *

Ruby brushed her hair to the side as she looked over the sleek marble desk at the holographic projection of the receptionist.

"And your name?" The lady asked, smiling widely.

"Um, Ruby Rose." She brushed her hair to the side again as she heard the sound of the projection tapping away at a screen thousands of miles away.

"Alrighty, and what company are you with?" Ruby looked at her dumbly for a second before recovering.

"Um, I'm not."

"Sorry?"

"I'm not with a company. Um, this is more of a personal type call thingy." The projection paused her tapping and pursed her lips. A moment later her eyes flicked up to meet Ruby's.

"And you don't have her personal number?" The tone was doubtful, almost accusatory.

"It's… Been awhile since I've seen her."

"Right, and how do you know Ms. Schnee again?"

"We were teammates at Beacon." The receptionist looked at her for a moment, dubiously. Ruby was beginning to feel butterflies in her stomach. This wasn't going the way she had planned.

"I'm sorry, but I know Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna, and they were Weiss' teammates."

"There are four members of each Beacon team." The projection just shut her eyes calmly for a moment.

"Is this a joke?" She said as her eyes opened again.

"What? No!" Ruby exclaimed waving her arms in front of her.

"Ms. Schnee's fourth teammate di-"

"No, I know, I-" Ruby broke off, taking a breath. "It's a long story." The projection didn't seem convinced.

"I'm sorry," She didn't sound it. "But this doesn't sound like urgent business affairs. I can't put you through to Ms. Schnee."

"Please! This is important." Ruby could feel that cold void beginning to claw its way back into her stomach. She _needed_ to see Weiss again. She needed to know what was happening. She needed to remember.

"Ma'am, please exit the premise or I'll have to call security."

"Wait! Fine, don't patch me through, but can I at least leave a message?"

"Miss Rose, I canno-"

"Please, trust me. She needs to hear this." The receptionist paused, then gave a heavy sigh. Ruby smiled, feeling little bubbles of joy begin to dance around her stomach. "Just tell her that I forgive her and that it was my fault. Say that I'd just like to see her again, and I don't care about the rest of it all." Ruby wondered if she was being too vague, but figured that Weiss would understand. There were a few taps of the keyboard and Ruby watched the receptionist's lips ghost over the words as she typed.

"I'll forward this to Ms. Schnee when it is appropriate." The receptionist turned her attention back to Ruby with a forced smile. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, thank you so much!" Ruby couldn't wipe the grin off her face as she turned away and began walking towards the door.

The pit in her stomach was pushed aside, the grinding and pain in her chest settled into a light and slightly elevated rhythm. The fear, anxiety, pain, all of it drifted away for a moment with one simple truth.

She was going to see Weiss again.

For the first time since coming back from the dead, Ruby felt alive.

* * *

A few thousand miles away a receptionist sat at her desk looking at the message tapped on the screen in front of her. It was ridiculously vague, short, and delivered by someone who was visibly far too young to be Weiss' teammate. That said, Miss Schnee had always been adamant that those at Beacon were always to be able to reach her.

There was a soft ping as an email was delivered into her dropbox. She looked at it, skimmed the contents, and then began typing a reply. It was a trivial e-mail, a notification of the completion of a transaction, but it was nonetheless necessary. She thanked the client for the notification, then returned to look at the note she had typed up.

The woman who had delivered the message was nervous, ancy, young, and very unprofessional. She could ill imagine her boss associating with someone of that sort. It didn't make much sense. Besides, the number of people who tried to contact the new co-CEO of the SDC from her past that merely went to school with her a few grades removed or some such nonsense was extraordinarily high. Part of her training had been to learn to weed out these sorts, and ensure that only vital information was passed on to her boss. For the most part, that meant the most important business deals. On top of which, Miss Schnee had been oddly unresponsive lately, which made her even more reluctant to bother her boss.

Another ping rang through the air as a new email reached her. The receptionist sighed heavily. This message was obviously just an attempt to reach her employer without any foundational reason. Miss Schnee did not have the time for such shenaniganry, and frankly, neither did she. She deleted the message, then clicked on her email to reply to the next message.

* * *

Yang stared at her scroll. The message on it was short, and yet it elicited more feeling in her than anything else in the past three years of her fucked up life. Alcohol numbed her, drugs that were meant to perk her up often only contributed to the void, her nights spent in others' company often felt lonelier than those nights where she sat alone in her apartment, staring at blank walls or the flickering tips of flames in her fireplace. But this text on her screen, four short lines of text, and suddenly Yang's insides were burning. Her stomach roiled and her hands shook.

" _You need to come to Vale._

 _It's about Ruby._

 _I'll explain when you arrive._

 _-Pyrrha"_

Yang stood, feeling something unfamiliar- or at least long forgotten - stirring deep inside her. These were the sorts of emotions that only a corpse could bring forth, the kind that spoke to abandonment, fear, and above all else, anger. If there was new information about how Ruby had died, that meant there might have been someone responsible. There might have been some sick, twisted agenda behind her sister's death. And if there was, Yang would burn it to ashes and spread those ashes on the wind. She would burn it into an empty husk. She wanted revenge.

And it terrified her.

To go from feeling nothing, being completely numb, to having this maelstrom of wicked, sharp urges and feelings stabbing through her was completely terrifying. To the side of her sat a small kit, holding a small plastic bag wherein sat a small pile of pills. She had bought them with two possible purposes in mind. They were a small taste of oblivion, and on those night where Yang found herself kicking and screaming, one of them would put her into a numb sleep, dreamless, carefree… She could forget the world for hours. Of course, the second she woke, it was all the same. And that was the second purpose. She was wondering if maybe it was better to embrace oblivion rather than to cautiously sip away at it.

They would get rid of the feeling.

Yang took a step sideways, reaching down to the bag, but something stilled her arm. If she did this, if she took even just one, it would mean she was giving up on Ruby. She was giving up on the last person she had allowed to mean anything to her. She had thought it was safe, dead bodies don't really change much, and so the pain couldn't get any worse.

She picked up the little package and looked at it for a moment, then put it back down. She walked around her bed to her closet, pulling it open. There wasn't much in it, a bright yellow dress from Jaune and Pyrrha's wedding, two sleeveless dark leather shirts and matching pants for hunting, and then a week's worth of casual clothing. Hanging on the door was the dark sword and accompanying dust pistol she had taken to using in her hunts. Everything she owned, she could pack up at a moment's notice.

There were two items in the closet, though, that had not been touched for years. Yang reached into the back corner of the cramped closet and pulled out a small metal box with an emblem engraved on the top - a flaming heart. She brushed the fine layer of dust off the top, taking a heavy breath. She popped the latch on the side of the box and slid the lid off, exposing two gleaming gold wristlets. Any other weapon might have been tarnished or rusted after so much disuse, but these still gleamed brightly, even in the dim lighting of her apartment. They were made with the help of one of the best weaponsmiths Vale had ever seen, after all.

Yang unclasped them and fitted them around her wrists, latching them into place. They fit her perfectly, feeling more familiar than anything Yang had known in a long time. She pumped her right arm, the bits of her weapon sliding effortlessly out into the extended gauntlet that had once served her. She slid back the latch to see it fully loaded from when she had last removed it with the express intention of donning it again the following day. Odd, she thought, how quickly her resolve to continue on had dissolved so fast.

A small smile graced her face as she collapsed Ember Celica back into its original form.

Then she looked into the closet once more, at the other box therein. It was larger than the one she had just taken out. Perhaps a foot and a half long by one high made of an obsidian black metal. There was another engraving on that one.

The head of a rose, the tips of whose petals turned into flame. Ruby's symbol.

* * *

 **I'm sorry for the release time of this chapter and its quality... It's a transition chapter, so I never expected it to be poetic or beautiful, but still... not my favourite yet. That said, some vital scenes are coming up in the next few chapters and I'm really excited to write them and I think you'll all enjoy them! I know there wasn't** **much** **Ruby in this chapter, but someone may or may not be getting another letter soon...**

 **Past that, hope you enjoyed. As per usual, thoughts, comments criticisms ect... are welcome! Please let me know what you think!**

 **'Till next time,**

 **-Unjax**


	7. Chapter 7: Alone

Ruby sat at the table, awkwardly pawing at the peas on her plate with her fork. The dinner table was thick with tension, and no one had said a word, waiting as the string grew tighter, stretching, getting ready to snap.

"I'll check on the cake." Pyrrha said jaggedly, not meeting her husband's gaze as she stood, neatly folded her napkin and placed it beside her half-finished meal. Meatloaf, rice, and peas. It was actually delicious. Jaune was an exceptional cook and had had it waiting for her and Pyrrha when she had finally made her way back to their apartment. Pyrrha had already been there, and she and Jaune had not been speaking. Ruby was beginning to wonder whether her coming back was a good thing or not. Jaune and Pyrrha had been so happy when she had first knocked on their door, but she had only seen them smile thinly since that first night.

Her running away probably hadn't helped.

"I'm sorry Jaune," Ruby said as Pyrrha left the room. "I promise, I'll pay you back for the clothes, I just need to find a j-"

"No, Ruby." Jaune sighed exasperatedly, waving his hand dismissively. "This isn't about you. We have no idea what it's like to be in your shoes right now. You have nothing to apologize for."

"So," Ruby inquired after pondering for a moment. "What is this about?"

"It's about us not knowing what you're going through, and whether it's a good idea for you to meet anyone again. Soon anyways." There was a tightness in his voice. He didn't want to talk about this. "I guess it has to happen eventually though."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. Is it confusing?" She nodded. "Seeing others might help to clear things up a bit, but it also might make things worse."

Ruby looked at Jaune, registering for a first just how tired he looked. There were bags under his eyes that she hadn't noticed earlier and a slouch in his spine uncustomary for huntsmen. He looked weary, like a man aged beyond his time with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"What's wrong Jaune?" Ruby's voice held nothing but sympathy. Jaune cracked a half-hearted smile.

"There's a lot of things wrong. Pyrrha and I need to talk about some things, and I…" He trailed off. "Let's just say that seeing you again is confusing in so many ways."

"Will you be alright?" Ruby's knees had started knocking under the table.

"I guess we'll find out."

* * *

 _I guess I'll start at the beginning._

 _We did not start off smoothly Rose. Every once in awhile I think of how we met and I'll smile at the great ironies of the world. You were cute, I was snooty. You were all alone and I was making my way through with my servants pushing along a plethora of bags and dust containers, alone in my own way I suppose. And this clueless, young little girl knocks all of it over. At the time, it felt like you were trying to sabotage everything I stood for and undermine me… I think I understand how I may have overreacted._

 _You irritated me for a while Rose, but not for any reason other than jealousy. You were younger than me but more talented, capable, you were a natural leader and I always assumed that was a role that I was perfectly suited for. My expectation of being granted the title was the exact reason I could never earn it, of course, but it took me a long time to come to terms with that. Things had always come easily to me. When the world is always attainable without effort, it becomes a simple affair to assume that you can achieve anything you desire with the flick of a wrist. Almost as if it is owed to you. You stole that from me, and I resented you for it._

 _But you… You are the best there is Rose. Anytime that I was afraid, or doubted who I was and what I was doing, you were there. We didn't always talk, sometimes it was just a smile when the world seemed an anonymous crowd of frowns, or a hug when it was the last thing I thought I wanted, but was truly what I yearned for most. You had this uncanny ability to ascertain exactly what needed to be done in any moment, and the caring, loving, optimistic and beautiful young woman I came to know got my attention. I stopped looking at you as the girl who took everything from me, and started seeing you as the one I could grow with. One I wanted to be around._

 _Firsts are a funny thing, are they not? As I see it, the progression of who you were to me was nothing more than a series of firsts. The first time we met, the first time I saw you as an equal, the first time I respected you, the first time I thought of you as my friend, and the first time I realized I loved you._

 _It was a long time ago now. Hardly three years into Beacon. We had been fighting a lot over trivial things. I can't recall what any of them were. I believe that once it was over which utensil went where. And when I say we were arguing a lot, I mean I was getting… Flustered with you. For the reason that now seems so obvious to me - I was afraid. I was beginning to understand how I felt, what you meant to me, and what that meant about who I was. I know that we are referred to as the 'finer sex;' however, I had never considered that I might find the company of another woman finer than that of a man. I had encounters with a few men - boys truthfully - and had always found them pleasant enough. Then there was you, a woman, and how you made my stomach coil over itself made me worried about what my father would think, though not nearly as much as I was concerned over what you would think._

 _I stood upon a precipice._

 _Understand that I was on the edge of losing everything. If you found out, or anyone did, I feared your rejection and consequently that of the entire team, and if my father knew, I would be edged out. No family, no friends, nothing but a crystallizing heart left alone in the void. As a child, I had hardly had a family, but I had at least the vaguest silhouette of one. Nonetheless, I had gazed into the abyss for long enough to know how much it terrified me. I was not sure how long I could survive alone amongst the nothingness that possesses those who have no one. I suppose I've come somewhat closer to finding an answer to that than I ever wished to._

 _So, these arguments, they were my juvenile attempts to hide from you, hoping that somehow I could hate you. Hating is so much easier, so much more cowardly, than loving, and I was irrevocably a coward. It was not until I questioned why I found myself so scared that I was forced to admit my feelings to myself._

 _And then I was quiet._

 _Solitude and silence often seems a solution, but in truth it is nothing more than a delay. I muzzled my own voice to ensure that no one found out. In doing so, though, I was unintentionally creating the exact fate I had feared so strongly. I would not talk to you or any of the others, I refused to speak with my family (not that that was new), and I slowly realized that I was losing everything I cared for. Were I to be saved, I would have to do something about it. But knowing and acting are very different monsters, and my demon would ill allow me to summon the courage required to voice that which was inside me._

 _If I spoke, I stood to lose everything. If I stayed stagnant, I would lose it all anyway. It was an impossible choice, and of course, I was a coward. The logical choice - that which I prided myself on being able to make - would have been to confess to you. To trust you. Rationally, there is only a_ chance _of losing everything if I did so. That terrified me even more than fading slowly away. Your rejection, knowing that there was no hope of you ever reciprocating those feelings which made me so confused and happy and sad, would have been infinitely worse than slowly becoming what I had once believed to be the only inevitability for myself - an observer in my own body. Seeing, acting, but never feeling. The heart can only survive so much before it shuts down, and perhaps it makes me weak, but I had been near that threshold for a long time._

 _And you, you beautiful, annoyingly perceptive, wonderful_ dolt _, took that choice away from me._

 _It was an evening after sparring. You suggested we go get ice-cream. Just the two of us. Of course, this immediately made my insides squirm with delight and nervousness and my heart pump frantically as if it were trying to escape my chest. It wasn't uncommon for partners to do things of that sort, but my mind immediately jumped to hopes of what your intentions were. I hoped that you were feeling the same as I did. I hoped that maybe this would bring an end to my fear. In a way, it did._

 _We got the ice cream, you got chocolate and I got vanilla. You made fun of me for being so plain. I got angry because the woman that was causing me so much pain and fear was now mocking me. Then you asked me to stop and sit down on a park bench. To just… Stop for a moment. You asked me to relax and just look at the world around me._

 _So I did._

 _We were at the airfield, sitting on the edge of the drop off. A hairsbreadth from falling, but without concern. There were no planes or airships that day. Everything was quiet and peaceful, and from our perch atop the world we could see all of Vale sprawled out before us as well as the rolling foothills that surrounded it, all the way to the crystalline lakes and rivers flowing down from the dusted snowy peaks of the mountains so far away._

 _I still find fault with words to describe the sight and the feeling that accompanied it. The life of the city contrasted by the peace of nature… The closest I can come is to describe it as true beauty. So blissful, so innocent, so pure was the feeling that enveloped me that I could hardly breathe. It was a sight I had seen a thousand times before, but only you could have made me see more in it than could ever have existed before. It was as if someone had taken my soul and shifted it, ever so slightly, to reveal the world in a new lens. It didn't last long, but in that brief moment I caught a glimpse of what you saw in the world, the purity of it, and how it drove you to save as much of it as you could._

 _That was the moment I realized I could not hide any longer. You had your flaws, as we all do, but you also held a purity unlike any I've ever known. You asked me if I found it beautiful, and I said that I did. I remember wanting to say more, my lips slightly parted, struggling to find a way to voice how much I cared. How I wanted to tell you, but how could I describe how I felt? How could I voice the uncertainty, fear, hope, love… The words that had so long been my allies failed me. I could not summon them, or perhaps it was my courage that failed me one more time._

 _Then you just smiled and said "I know,"_

 _I had made no comment to you. I hadn't done anything save make a statement of agreement and paused, but somehow you knew. You knew what I meant by it. That it wasn't the world that was beautiful, but rather the way you saw it. That it was you, Ruby Rose, that was beautiful._

 _You took my hand. It was such a simple gesture, but that touch was more intimate than anything I had ever experienced. Handshakes with businessmen, hugs with family, even the brief kisses - those that are lofted as the crux of romance - I had shared with some suitors who had seemed particularly pleasant could ill compare to that touch. Intimacy is not defined by the extent of the touch, it is defined by the value of it. For the first time in my life, it felt like someone was offering me a fire to escape the harsh, cold landscape I had not even realized I was living in. My heart raced, my breath came short, but you just sat beside me peacefully. And eventually, the terror and adrenaline faded, giving way to a much more profound feeling of peace and contentment. There have been few times in my life where I have felt happy. That was one of the first, and one I still treasure to this day. All I have now are these memories, Rose. What is left without you is naught but a barren husk of what was once life. I no longer have someone to show me the beauty of the world. Some days I gaze out into the garden outside my office, walk through it even. I'll stare for hours, hoping for a second of that world that you showed me, just a tantalizing taste of all that once was. But my nightshade and daylilies are dead, and though my rose blooms, it is not for me. It is a reminder though, that somewhere that purity still exists. I've just lost the ability to find it. I hope you haven't lost that._

 _There was never a time when we explicitly stated we were dating, and I'm glad for it. That word does not seem to describe the times we spent together. There was something so pure and unadulterated about them that it would seem insulting to liken them to the awkward attempts of adolescents and even adults to gain one another's affection. We already shared that affection, and when we were together we would allow it to show. For the first few months, we would get ice-cream every Friday and go to the airfield, sit on the same bench, and gaze into the world. It felt to me as if you were sharing your very soul with me, and I believe that you came to know me well in those moments. Saw where I was from, and how foreign this beautiful world of yours was. Once in awhile, we would hold hands, and I would smile. In those first few weeks, I experienced more happiness than I had in the entirety of my previous life._

 _I am certain that you would never agree with me blaming myself for what happened to you, that you would claim the fault as your own, but the second I shared your world with you I took on a responsibility. I held a piece of your soul within me, the shard of it that you had shown to me, as much as you held mine within your arms. We were bound, in a way, and that bond only grew stronger over time. But I began to wither it. I started to drift away, falling back into the eager embrace of the abyss, and shunned your attempts to save me._

 _It is somewhat enlightening, writing these letters. I have nothing to hide from you, I never have, because you always accepted all of me. It was not about my virtues being better than my faults, it was about me being beautiful to you, and vice versa. There is no truer acceptance than that which comes from forgetting what is good and what is bad. All there is is the other person, and you can do nothing but love them. You gave that to me, and I threw it away. I tore it apart, let you go. I took your trust, the morsel of felicity you had granted me in such utter selflessness, and I had devoured it._

 _I have wronged you Rose. That, among other reasons, is why I can never be apart of your life again. I fear that, though you may have loved me, it was never a love I deserved. That world that you had before I stepped into it, before you showed me, was what you deserve. I don't know if you thought that perhaps I could be apart of it, but I could not survive there. Or rather, it could not survive while I existed in it. The mountains and lakes could never sparkle as dazzlingly for me as they could for you, and the marvel of life and human innovation could never be as profound while I observed it. I tainted your world. Like the weeds in my garden, I constricted the beauty and love out of the world. And if you had once known that world, how could you live in one that was colored by me? One that was so infinitely_ less _than what you had known, what you should have had._

 _And I have always wondered if that is why you pursued your duty so vigorously. Perhaps by destroying the embodiments of pure evil, you could rid your world of it. But the evil did not come from the Grimm. It did not come from anything more than that which you would not leave willingly, and I would never have left. I was selfish in keeping by your side. You were my saviour, my love, everything to me. You were my light, and everything else was the dark._

 _And then I lost you to the dark._

 _And I will never forgive myself for not following you unto the breach, following you to face that last adversary with whom we must all eventually dance The young flirt with it, the old fear it, the brave can face it and tremble only a little, the cowardly will avoid it at any cost, but all will someday come to know it. Perhaps the most we can ask for, the most that can be harvested from this crop of weeds, the best that can happen in this eccentric and convoluted world, is to not face it alone. But you did. You faced it without another soul for miles around, at the hands of monstrosities that populate the nightmares of heros. You had to face it alone. Because of me._

 _There is no law which would convict me, no human fabrications or engravings in stone that would denote a sentence or punishment for what I did. Perhaps it is because no words can describe it. No amount of tears can be shed to equate to it. No volume of blood, no amount of good deeds, no pile of diamonds, could ever be used to evaluate the depth of it. It was a betrayal of the most fundamental parts of our souls. Murder is often considered the most horrendous thing that may be done, and perhaps I am guilty of that in a way, but the betrayal - nay abandonment - I committed is more heinous than any crime that is known to law or I would fear to imagine._

 _You will not be alone now. You have Yang, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha… They are true friends. They will not leave you. They will not do to you what I have done. Be open with them. Build your life however you will, and they will stand by your side. You will never again be alone Rose. That I can promise you. I hope that that brings you as much joy as it brings me bittersweet contentment._

 _And in this moment, I ask one last favour. Allow me to be selfish one last time. One final proclamation._

 _I love you,_

 _-Weiss Schnee_

* * *

Ruby looked at the screen, a crystalline tear sliding off her cheek to splatter on the screen, shattering into a thousand fragments. Oh _Dust_ , what was Weiss thinking? Oh _Dust_ … Ruby held her hand over her mouth, trying not to sob. How could Weiss blame herself? How could she hold herself accountable? And how could she leave Ruby there, all alone? Because despite who she had around her, despite the fact she knew she could trust Jaune and Pyrrha, despite what Weiss said, Ruby was alone.

 _Dust,_ she was so very _alone._

* * *

 ** _I am so excited for next chapter! I also really enjoyed writing this one. Starting to see a lot of what Weiss was thinking. Also, the season opener today was awesome! So I hope people are still enjoying this, and let me know what you think. I'm feeling a little rusty on my writing, so any criticism, thoughts, comments, ideas, ect... are all welcome and help a lot._**

 ** _-Unjax_**


	8. Chapter 8: It's You

"Morning, Rubes," Jaune's voice whispered softly through the wood as three soft raps came a tapping at the door. She called that he could come in and it swung open as he stepped in, the light of the other room igniting his hair for a moment. "You got a minute?"

"Seems that all I have are minutes right now. Not much else I can do with my time." She answered, looking down at her fidgeting hands. She was growing restless.

"Well, tomorrow might be an exciting day for you."

"Why's that?" She inquired as he sat down on the soft, cushiony surface of the sofa next to her.

"The other day Pyrrha sent a message to Yang, Blake and Weiss." Ruby's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her ex-lover's name, but Jaune took it as excitement. It also explained the message on her - no, Weiss' - scroll. "I don't know where Weiss is, but Blake and Yang are going to be here later today."

Ruby stared for a moment. Her sister and her teammate. They would be there… Gleaming, gold hair bloomed in her memory, followed by a velvety black, shining and shadows, red eyes, and amber ones. Happy memories for the most part, but also some sad. Yang had been there through all the hard times in Ruby's life. Like… leaving all her friends at Signal behind. Or the first few weeks of class. Or when Summer-

And like that, it was gone.

Was that good or bad?

"Are you alright?" Jaune's voice refocused Ruby's mind. She was far from sure if she was. She gave a curt nod anyways.

"It's just the memories. I… It'll be good to see them." She forced a smile.

"Ruby…" Jaune's voice trailed off as he looked towards the door.

"What is it?"

"Are you happy here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Living with Pyrrha and I. We're glad to have you here, of course, and you can stay as long as you want, but if you're back for good…"

"Well," A thought occurred to her, one that actually sparked a little burst of joy. Something she knew she could do that would be good. "Maybe I could try hunting again."

"No!" Jaune exclaimed, whirling on her. Ruby jolted back at the sudden movement. Jaune closed his breath and let out a long sigh. "Sorry, that wasn't fair. But Ruby, last time you hunted…"

"I'm not going to die again Jaune. I promise." She assured, reaching forward to touch his shoulder gently. He jerked away from the contact and stood.

"There's cereal in the cupboard and eggs in the fridge. The bread and bagels are in the pantry. It's there when you feel like breakfast. Get a good one, I have the feeling it'll be a big day today." He gave her a thin smile as he walked back to the door, closing it gently behind him.

Suddenly, despite Jaune's words, Ruby wasn't so sure she was entirely welcome there.

* * *

Blake was going to be there, Yang figured. She hadn't seen the faunus since their altercation at the bar. Dust, she did regret that. But if Pyrrha wanted to see her about Ruby, Weiss and Blake would be there too. Weiss, Yang would be fine with seeing. The heiress had become cold and distant since Ruby had been torn to shreds. Yang was fine with that. Curt nods and concise answers were all she needed. No checking in to see how she was emotionally, no questions about what she was doing with her life, just business of a sort. The business - task - that was everyday life.

Blake wasn't like that. Blake cared, somehow, after all that had happened. How she managed to get up and think about others and not the unending, ever-present, never-lapsing pain, was beyond Yang. It was like something was constantly grinding her insides to a bloody pulp, not too unlike what Ruby's corpse had probably looked like. They had never let her see it. And her ex-partner thought it kind to ask what she felt like. Yang wondered if she had ever been able to fully explain just how hopeless life was to her partner, and if Blake had ever listened. Because Blake seemed to believe that there was some… joy, or life, or something left in Yang. And she was wrong.

Yang was surviving.

And now she was going to have to see her again. It would be emotional, probably, for at least one of them. It was not that she wanted to hurt Blake, it was simply that she knew she would, and she could ill bring herself to care.

Yang sighed, looking out the window as the dust plane's engines roared to life. The thin, two seat isles were hardly as luxurious as the ones Beacon had used, and paled in comparison to those that her team had used after become huntresses. Truth be told, she could actually afford to travel in one of those. She did not have copious amounts of money, but she would have been able to scrape together enough for food and other necessities even after such an expense. She did not want to though. She enjoyed being around others that were like her. Those that didn't much care, or were too busy trying to care that they wouldn't give her a second thought.

Her hand drifted to the little zipper that rested to the side of her jacket and fingered the contents of the pocket absent-mindedly as the grass was blown away from the plane. Some of the nearer strands began to blacken as they were charred by the heat generated from the engines, and Yang watched as veins of char snaked through the grass before the plane finally began to lift off the ground.

Her pocket had three little bumps in it, and she found her thoughts drifting to them. Seeing Blake again would be hard. Blake and the packages now resting in the cargo hold were the only things that Yang had kept to remind herself of who she had once been. She thought that perhaps she had finally lost one of those remaining memories. It had not been easy, and Yang would have preferred not to have to remember their reacquaintance.

She found that she had unzipped the pocket, and she slid a finger into the pocket pausing as she felt one of the objects inside. It would be easier like this.

"I'm sorry, is this seat taken?" Yang yanked her zipper up. It would not do well to be caught with those on a plane. She whipped her head towards the newcomer and her stomach sank as she met a pair of amber eyes.

* * *

Pyrrha smiled as she squeezed Ruby's arm slightly. Though Jaune may have argued that it was Ruby's choice, Pyrrha believed there were more parties involved in the decision. Yang should have been the first to learn of Ruby's return, followed closely by Blake. It was only by so stroke of fate that they had ended up as her first reunion. Her teammates had always been closer with her, and they would be able to help more with Ruby's condition. Perhaps, some of them might even be able to help shed some light on what was happening.

Pyrrha wished that Weiss would have come. She was sure the heiress was busy though, and she could not possibly know of Ruby's return. Nor was it the sort of thing that Pyrrha could simply say over scroll without it coming off as some cruel joke. She never would have believed it had she not witnessed the young woman standing in front of her with her own eyes. But the others had come, and that would hopefully be enough for her friend.

The tarmac landing pad was set in the middle of a large field with a red hangar at the far end for recreational fliers. It was somewhat ruddy, cracked and unkempt, and haphazardly merging with the tall straw-like grass of the field. The ship itself was small with four wings branching off of it, perhaps four times the size of a bullhead. None of it was particularly luxurious. Pyrrha was used to this place though, she had been there once a year to meet Yang. She had been surprised that the two had taken the same flight - Blake could certainly afford much more with her status - but perhaps they had talked about it and Blake had decided to accompany Yang.

She thought of twists of fate as she considered the difference between the other times she had been there and the reason she was there now. Before, it was for Yang to grieve for her sister's death. Now though, it was to celebrate her return. Pyrrha was excited to see the happiness on both Yang and Ruby's faces when they saw each other. She could see exactly how it would play out. There would probably be some life-endangering bear-hugs, a lot of laughing, maybe some tears of joy, but if Pyrrha knew Yang, she knew the happy-go-lucky woman would be over the moon. Blake, perhaps, would be a little more toned down, but she did not doubt that everyone would laughing and having a good time. She would be worried about the shock value, but Yang had always been one to take the unexpected in stride. She had perhaps drank a little too much when visiting, but it was always out of partying and having fun. Ruby had seemed a little down since her return, and if anyone could be a beacon of happiness and joy, it was Yang.

She turned her attention back to the plane as she heard the hissing of the door coming unlocked. The metal slid to the side and a ramp extended. Pyrrha spotted a glimpse of golden hair in the doorway and waved. Yang stepped out of the shadows of the interior, shielding her face with a hand for a moment, gazing into the crowd. Their eyes met and Yang grinned, waving her hand at the scarlet haired woman. Pyrrha lowered her arm, and Yang, as expected, looked around for Jaune as she continued to wave. Her eyes tracked to Pyrrha's side, and found Ruby. Pyrrha's heart welled in her chest as she saw recognition in Yang's eyes.

And then Yang's arm dropped. Her smile vanished, as it she had been stricken. She took a half step back, and looked like she wanted to run as her eyes flicked to the side. Pyrrha's stomach dropped and she frowned. That wasn't what she had expected.

The blonde recovered quickly though, a shaky smile appearing on her features as she began walking down the ramp. The smile grew strength as she walked forward, and Pyrrha began to relax again. Everything was great. Her gaze broke from Yang briefly as she saw a dark haired faunus descending the ramp. Pyrrha bounced on her toes, waving at Blake, who smiled and waved back.

Pyrrha's gaze returned to Yang as she reached the ground about thirty feet from them. She took long, strong strides towards them grinning even wider, but it almost seemed to not reach her ears. Pyrrha noticed how Yang almost looked angelic walking towards them. Tall and strong, her hair fanning in the wind, almost glowing in the sunshine.

Yang slowed when she was about two paces away. "Ruby?" She drifted a step closer. "Is…" The blonde smiled, but Pyrrha saw her chin tremor slightly, her lips turning down. "Is it-" Yang reached out, her hand shaking as she reached forward towards her sister's face. Ruby for her part, was just looking shyly up at her big sister.

"Yeah," Ruby murmured with a small smile, obviously not at ease. Yang didn't even seem to register her sister's words.

Yang closed the distance with a last step. Her fingers hesitated, as if Ruby were a mirage that Yang was afraid of breaking. Yang began to withdraw, her face twisting in pain. Pyrrha watched as the smile completely evaporated a moment before Yang's fingers brushed Ruby's cheek, the the blonde's finger started to reach forward again, curled, as if she were to brush an invisible tear from Ruby's cheek. Ever so slowly, she drew closer and closer, a hairsbreadth at a time, until there was no space remaining.

It was like that touch was an electric shock. Yang collapsed, clutching at her sister, falling to her knees and grasping at the fabric of her dress. Pyrrha saw the blonde's chest heave and a garbled cry escaped Yang as something wet splashed onto the ground.

"Ruby..." The choked sob ripped from Yang's throat as Yang clutched desperately at the woman, groping at her sides, crying into her sister. "Oh _Dust," A sob. "_ Ruby..."

Ruby just stood there shocked, looking at her sister, on her knees, broken. She stroked Yang's hair, trying to calm her. "Hey sis," She murmured, shellshocked by the reaction.

Yang just pressed herself tighter at the words, as if staving off some terrible, primal pain, the crying getting louder. Some incomprehensible, almost hysteric message tried to escape the agonized heaving. Pyrrha took a step back as a few people began to look in on the scene. Yang didn't notice though, she just kept sobbing and trying to speak, the message becoming clearer and clearer as Yang repeated it through hyperventilated breaths. She gasped out the mantra as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, as if it was all that existed. There was just some inexplicable pain, and what she needed Ruby to hear. And it tore itself from her throat in a garbled heap of syllables, hardly distinguishable from the weeping.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed, voice muffled by her sister's clothes. "I'm so sorry Ruby…"

* * *

 **Hello there!**

 **Raise your hands if you hate school! Everyone? Oh good, thought it was just me. So yeah, I've just been insanely busy lately, and I have had almost no time to write. The times that I have had to write have mostly been occupied by nanomo's monthly novel thingy that's happening. I hit a stump there though, so figured I'd get my creative juices going again with some RWBY! I'm glad to get back to writing in.**

 **As for this chapter, it's the end of the first act as I understand it. Of Ruby getting back to civilization. I also love the thought of having Yang break down when Pyrrha thinks she's the strongest one. Having her break down upon seeing Ruby is something I had pictured for a long time. And I'm not happy with it. Idk, maybe it's because I have it pictured perfectly in my mind, and can't quite convey it or what, but I hope it's not too bad. Maybe I'm just rusty. In terms of the rest of the chapter, we'll learn more about Blake and Yang's conversation on the plane (maybe) later, depending on a few choices I have to make. It will be explained though, one way or another. And Jaune's disposition... Well, we'll continue to explore that.**

 **Even though it's short, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you're thinking! Oh, and we're getting to the edge of the first act, so all of you wanting me to stop with the constantly.. sad(?) chapters, don't worry. Just given the nature of the story, it will never have a super jokey and fluffy mood, but there will be breaks in the tension coming up. Just don't get too comfortable!**

 **Cheers,**

 **Unjax**


	9. Chapter 9: Old Friends Again

"So, how's it feel to be back?"

Ruby looked to the side at Blake, who was striding along with her hands clasped behind her back, entirely at ease. She had always moved fluidly, but now there was something more to it. Blake used to move like she was sneaking through shadows, like a panther stalking prey or avoiding a hunter. Now, though she still held grace in her movements, there was power and authority in her stride. She was stronger now too, bands of muscle pressing against her skin with the slight motions her body made as she walked. But the thing that caught Ruby's attention was the tilt of her head. Her chin was held high, as if braving the world's judgement was no longer an issue. She didn't wear the bow either.

"I guess it's good. I'm not really sure." She answered, pulling herself away from her thoughts. Blake smiled.

"I can guess that it would be a little disorienting." Ruby nodded. "What do you think you're going to do now?"

 _Find Weiss._ Ruby immediately thought, but she couldn't say that.

"I'm thinking I might hunt."

"Do you think you're up to it?" It wasn't like Jaune's reaction. Blake seemed at ease with the idea, but she was just checking up with her friend.

"Yeah, I mean I don't know. I'm not really sure how this works. Like, am I years out of practice or am I the same as before, y'know?" Blake smirked at her.

"Well, do you want to find out?"

* * *

Yang wanted to be sick. She was staring down the full glass of scotch, wanting to toss it back as she had so casually even just a few days ago. But Blake's words rang in her mind as she tried to blot out the pain.

" _I know you don't want to talk to me. I don't care. I'm just going to say some things that I should have said long ago but didn't because I was scared of losing you. But I think you're gone now anyways. Ruby's dead, but what you're doing is a disgrace. Your sister stood for good, she always tried to help others. That's who she was, and it's what her legacy should be. It shouldn't be a broken heiress and a broken sister. Weiss is at least working to change things. She's at least been doing something._

" _You might justify what you're doing by saying you do help people, that you're a huntress. But you're not. Right now, you're a mercenary. You don't do what you do to help others. You have no responsibility to the people. You're not a guardian. You're nothing. You're a knife, and you only cut where others point you. You haven't taken any responsibility. If your sister could see you now, what would she think? Ruby wouldn't even be ashamed. She'd just be sad. She'd be hurt that you're doing this to yourself. I think she might even be disappointed."_

And had she been wrong? Ruby didn't know yet. _Dust,_ Yang still couldn't believe she was alive. But Ruby didn't know yet. She was out with Blake. Yang wasn't sure if the faunus would tell Ruby anything, but it didn't seem her style. Blake would urge Yang to show herself, show her true colors, but she would never force Yang's hand. So it was up to Yang, and she knew that she was too much a coward to say a damned word.

She lifted the glass again. What did it matter? She was already a shame. She had already let Ruby down in more ways than she could possibly imagine. She had already failed her duty as a huntress. She was at rock bottom. She might as well act like it.

"I'll get what she's having." Yang sighed. She wondered if this was another stupid attempt at a hookup. She'd had plenty, oftentimes even with men she had no attraction to. She just didn't feel like she should stop them. They had every right to shame her however they wanted, and she was never surprised when they left after without a word. She let them use her. But tonight, as much as she felt like the filthy backwater scum of the world, something was making her stop. She didn't want to be used tonight.

"Look, I'm sure your confidence and bravado works on all the la-" Her voice died as she turned to the newcomer. It was Jaune. "Oh." She said dumbly.

"Yeah, I know." He sighed.

"wha-"

"It's one of those days." He interrupted her before she could ask.

"Yeah," Yang agreed looking back down into the warm liquid. It had been cold at some point. Ice cubes and all. Now it was warm. Yang wondered if she'd ever drink it.

"You have to turn down a lot of guys I guess." He said grimly, as if something had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"No, don't have to turn them down a lot." Yang let her voice drop weakly. Maybe she would have lied before, and it was only a half-truth, but Jaune looked over at her, catching the hidden meaning.

"You weren't just partying those nights after visiting their graves, were you?" Yang shook her head.

"In Atlas, I drank just about every night. Sometimes I wouldn't end up alone. Here, I made sure to end up alone, but drank twice as much to make up for it." She wasn't sure why she was being so candid.

"So, guys just hit on you at bars?"

"Yeah, it used to be fun when I had no intention of letting them do anything. But, after Ruby…" She trailed off, not sure how to finish.

"You didn't feel like saying no anymore?" He suggested.

"I felt cheap. At first I just noticed I would party a bit more. Then I started letting guys get handsy. Then pretty soon I stopped the partying, and just let them do what they wanted. Who was I to say no?"

"It changes you, doesn't it?" He asked, taking a big swig of whisky. He let out a sharp breath after.

"Yeah,"

"Are you glad she's back?" Yang paused and looked over at him. Of course she was, wasn't she? Her sister was back… Wasn't that what she had wanted? Prayed for? But that's not what she said.

"I don't know." Yang hated herself just a little bit more as she admitted it. "Are you?"

"Of course I am," Jaune let out a heavy sigh. "It's just that, when someone's dead, you have to forgive them y'know? I thought I had. I thought I owed it to her memory to not be mad. But now…" He trailed off, looked into the icy shock of his drink, and downed it. He grimaced. He looked over at her glass, now noticing the condensation on the side. "You gonna have yours?" He asked as he held his finger up to the bartender for a refill. He was obliged almost immediately. Not many people were in the bar this early.

Yang looked down at her drink once more. She could feel her pocket hanging heavy at her side. She gently brushed a finger against the outside, fingering the three little pills inside. But the thought of them disgusted her. Today, she wouldn't let herself run.

"For the first time in years I think I'm going to do something brave." Yang said hollowly and brushed the glass aside.

Jaune chuckled at her. "What do you mean? You risk your life everyday you hunt."

"Is it really a risk if you're hoping you'll get killed?" Yang stood, pushing the stool back. She slapped a small stack of lien on the table, enough for at least eight more drinks. "You're gonna need a lot more than that." Yang nodded at Jaune's drink, he was looking at her with subtle shock. "Trust me."

And she walked out of the bar. There was a gym nearby, and Yang made her way there. It had a boxing ring and a few punching bags. And Yang needed to hit something really, really bad.

* * *

Blake struck with lightning speed, blades flashing towards Ruby faster than she knew was possible. Ruby raised her own blade in defense. The steel clashed together before splitting off a second later. Blake dipped low and Ruby only barely managed to get the sword low enough to fend off the blow. Blake just kept spinning, cutting towards her head and shoulder with her blades, but Ruby blocked that one easily.

Unaware of the foot now hooked behind hers. Blake pulled her foot back, bringing Ruby's ankle with her and sending her crashing to the ground.

Ruby let out a huff of breath as she looked at the sky high above her, clouds drifting lazily overhead, heedless of what was happening below. That was an odd thought.

"Wow Blake!" Ruby laughed as she stood. "You're really fast." Blake gave her a thin smile and a hum. Ruby stood again.

She looked at the sword in her hand. She hated swords. Their reach was so short and they felt so light. She liked being able to use her weapon as a source of momentum, spinning and twirling in a never-ending weave. She would have to adjust.

This time, Ruby attacked first. She leapt at Blake, slashing at her chest. Blake parried and whipped her sheath around to smack Ruby on the back, but Ruby was already rolling away, not stopping to engage in swordplay. If she let clash go on for more than a few traded blows, then Blake would inevitably best her. Her best bet was to keep the clashes short and brief and hope to get in a few blows here and there.

Ruby came out of the roll to look at Blake again, who was eyeing her a bit more carefully. Ruby crouched low, sword held in front of her, ready for the attack. She barely saw it as Blake shimmered into two, twin versions of the faunus running at Ruby. She didn't remember that trick.

Ruby dashed between the two, swinging at the one on her right as she passed. Her blade passed through, and Ruby braced as she felt blades smack into her back, sending her crashing forward.

Ruby got up again, not letting there be a pause in the combat this time. She leapt at Blake, swinging low. Blake parried and cut towards her head, but Ruby ducked under the swing and brought her sword up to slash across Blake's front. It would have worked if Blake hadn't been dual wielding. As it was, Ruby's sword was brushed away. She kicked low, connecting with Blake's leg. It buckled and the faunus struggled back. Ruby gave her a quick hit on the shoulder then darted away as she saw Blake's form blur.

Ruby turned when she was five steps away, looking at Blake already standing and facing her, head cocked.

"Alright then," The raven-haired girl said, a grin spreading across her face. Ruby smiled back. She missed her scythe though. Both of them knew it. Ruby hadn't used blades since she was what? Thirteen? Even if she wasn't out of practice mentally, she certainly was with this medium. Both she and Blake knew who would win at this point, it was just a matter of how much Ruby could do until then.

This time Blake didn't hold anything back.

She leapt at Ruby, who raised her sword to parry. A shadow of movement above the faunus, and Ruby realized that it was a shadow clone coming at her. She twisted, narrowly avoiding the blade that ghosted past where her face had just been. As she came out of her spin she saw Blake already slashing towards her. Ruby raised the blade and deflected it. As steel rang against steel, Blake dashed to the side, leaving a shadow behind her. Ruby swung at the real Blake, ignoring the still one beside her. She was shoved forward and stumbled, had to roll to not sprawl and turned to see Blake behind her. She hadn't been the one running.

The faunus came at her and Ruby spun her sword so it was in a backhand grip. She weaved under the first cut, saw the sheath descending towards her ankle. She leaned backwards, hopping into a tight back hand spring as the twin blades cut the air above and below her. Her hand touched ground and Ruby clenched her core, forcing her legs into a swift kick as she flipped back around. Her boots passed an inch from Blake's face. Then the faunus was jumping back as a clone disintegrated in front of Ruby.

Ruby leapt after her, having to choose between twin images of the faunus again as she approached. She picked the static one this time, grinning as Blake flinched and raised Gambol Shroud. Rather than slash or cut, Ruby instead used her sword as a guard to crash into Blake, sending both of them sprawling. Having expected it, Ruby recovered first and jumped at Blake. She brought the sword down towards the faunus, and it passed right through its chest and the shadow clone sank into the ground. Ruby looked up, realized that the clone that had dashed away a moment ago was the real Blake, and sighed as Gambol Shroud's tip rested against her chin.

"That was incredible." Blake said with a twinkle in her eye, sweat beading down her forehead.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, standing again. "Your shadow was solid."

"That," Blake had an edge of pride in her voice. "Was the longest I've been able to sustain a clone for. I've been working on it for years. My shadows are solid - they're empty copies to be sure - but the hold weight. Normally they disintegrate after being hit, but if I focus, I can maintain them for a while. It uses a lot of aura though, and doing it for more than a second is really taxing."

Ruby smiled. It was incredible. When she had come to Beacon, Blake was one of the most adept semblance users she had seen, second maybe only to Pyrrha. She had been able to summon several clones in an instant, and could summon one after the other smoothly in combat. Blake's semblance was a part of her fighting style. But this was a whole other level.

But it left a bitter taste in her mouth. How much else had changed while Ruby had been rotting in the ground?

"I think you could go on a hunt." Blake spoke thoughtfully as she replaced Gambol Shroud on her back. "I'll go with you of course, and if I can get them to, Jaune and Pyrrha as well."

"I don't think Jaune would like that." Ruby said meekly.

"He's scared Ruby. We all are. We don't know what this is, and we've already lost you once. I don't know what would happen if it happens again." Ruby looked at the ground, that familiar pit opening in her stomach had she _done_ to all of them? Stupid, selfish- "Of course, you can't just walk around Vale for the rest of your life. You were always meant to be a huntress Ruby. You were the best of us, and I think you can be again."

Something unfamiliar happened then. A little spark of hope flared in Ruby. She could be a huntress. She could make up for some of what she had done by helping others. She could do some good, and all the while she would be searching for any mention of Weiss. Hunting would give her a chance to search far and wide.

"Blake, you've changed." The faunus smiled at her.

"For the better, I hope. But you left some pretty big shoes to fill Ruby. I've tried, but I'm not sure anyone will do it as well as you."

Ruby wasn't so sure. Blake held a wisdom now that Ruby wasn't sure she herself had ever had. She felt so uncertain about everything right now, and how could she have been any better before she had died?

But now she had others that were willing to help her make up for it.

She smiled, genuinely hopefully for the first time. Maybe this life thing wasn't so hard.

A loud growling interrupted her thoughts. Blake's eyes widened and she flushed as her stomach rumbled noticeably.

"Sushi?" Ruby suggested. Blake laughed.

"Sushi."

* * *

 **I'm loving Blake's character right now. I also like Jaune and Yang's interactions. They understand each other a bit more** **than the others I think.**

 **This chapter is the start of the next 'section' of the story! It starts with a hunt, it ends with a shocking revelation. That's all I have to say about that.**

 **Anyhow, hope you enjoyed! As per usual, tips, ideas, thoughts, and comments are welcome! I'm still getting better at writing, and I hope to keep improving with all of your help!**

 **Till next time,**

 **Unjax**


	10. Chapter 10: Shadows

_To the respectable Miss Schnee,_

 _Where the hell are you? I know it's hard to believe, but Ruby's back. She's actually here, I don't know how or why, but she is. So, get your dust damned head out of your spreadsheets and get over here. I… Don't know how long this will last. You should see her, before anything happens to either of you._

 _You owe her at least this._

 _-Blake Belladonna_

* * *

 _The leaves rustled in the moonlit breeze, their red petals fluttering around and tickling one another. They swayed to a silent beat, and long, thin branches knocked ever so slightly against one another in the dense forestry._

 _Ruby breathed deeply, letting the cool autumn air fill her lungs and ease her. She felt tense, on edge besides not being able to see any clear danger. Perhaps it was the web of shadows cast on the ground by the arching canopy of increasingly skeletal branches that almost seemed to resemble that of a spider. Yet, she knew her query lay further on, deeper into the forest. There had been no sign of any other of the Grimm._

 _She picked her way across the leaves strewn on the ground, careful not to make a sound despite the crinkling one would suspect would accompany footfalls on crisp, dried and dead foliole._

 _When Ruby Rose donned her hood and wielded her scythe, she was as silent as death itself. All she could do was hope she was equally as deadly._

 _Deathstalkers, three if her intel was correct, were her adversaries on this day. She would have preferred not to do this alone though. But Weiss -_

 _A pang shot through Ruby, striking the most discordant note in her chest. She had to shut her eyes for a moment to stop from gasping in pain as her chest constricted at the thought. It felt like a physical stab, white hot agony exploding through her._

 _The truth was that she was losing Weiss. She loved Weiss with all her heart, and to see the beautiful woman throw her happiness to the wind in hopes of pleasing a father too long dissapointed and too far removed to ever truly be proud. But Weiss had a sense of duty. She had to undo her father's wrongs, even if it meant she would only walk into his footsteps. Good intentions lead many places, but far too often to the very ends one wished to avoid from the start._

 _She wished she could see Weiss now. Hold her again, gently stroke her cheek, trace the scar that only seemed to enhance her beauty as she had so many times. She wanted to go back to those perfect nights in Beacon when Yang and Blake were away and she and Weiss would curl up in the blankets laying next to one another. They would whisper their hopes, their dreams, and their fears into the long hours of the night, heedless of the passing time. They never felt tired, they never worried about the next day, all that mattered was the other wrapped in their arms, and the beauty of the moment._

 _But those days were scarce now. And where once hope had been the domineering topic, it seemed that now more fear and worry had plagued Weiss, that perhaps what she was doing was not the right thing, and even more worryingly, that she might lose Ruby._

 _Ruby had been appalled the first night she heard those words tumble out of Weiss' shaking lips, so close to the verge of tears. How could Weiss not know that Ruby would never leave her? In fact, could never leave her._

 _But with Weiss trembling, her gaze never meeting Ruby's, her eyes shut tight, Ruby knew that she was afraid. Terrified. She had calmed Weiss that night, held her tight and reassured her, but once she knew, Ruby couldn't help but see it. The worry. The premonition of terrible irreparable damage. It was tearing Weiss apart, and as much as Ruby tried to stitch the pieces together, she was beginning to wonder how long she could outpace the fear. Someday, Ruby would fail._

 _And that day may have come._

 _So Ruby was alone as the air, now seeming to hold a hostile, icy edge, twirled her hair and she walked through the forest. The ground was now littered with decaying leaves, almost as if they understood the beasts of death that lingered just a few hundred feet from where she was._

 _Crescent Rose slid off her belt into her hand, the smooth metal now more familiar than anything else, even than Weiss' touch. She felt a hollow pang in her stomach._

 _The scythe unfurled, hundreds of tiny gears locking into place. The perfect instrument of death. Ruby brought her hand up to her hood, slid it over her head, and Ruby Rose was gone._

 _The cloaked woman glided through the woods, seeing her prey ahead. A small burrow set near the edge of the woods, a tunnel of sorts. She could feel her aura tingling, rebelling at the presence of the Deathstalkers. The telltale glow of the stingers lit the inside of the cavern a cold orange as she walked forward. They wouldn't even hear her before the first was dead, and the second was a moment removed from joining its companion._

 _But she was patient. She took her time, avoided twigs and leaves. She made as much noise as her shadow, and was less visible._

 _Snap._

 _The woman in red stilled and crouched next to a small bush. Had she made the sound? She didn't think so, but it didn't matter now. The Deathstalkers had heard._

 _Chitter echoed out from the rocky burrow as three hulking figures emerged. Any other human would be afraid. Their hearts would be racing, breathes would be hitched or coming too fast, but the hooded woman was still. Her heart beat at a steady rhythm as she observed them sweep their large heads from side to side, looking for her. They knew she was there, and the Grimm never stopped when they had found prey. They would spread out, experienced enough to know that they could easily kill one measly human. They had no reason to be afraid. She wondered if they felt fear._

 _Her aura tensed, and a brief moment of confusion clouded her mind before her hood was ripped off and she felt something enter her neck. Her heartbeat skyrocketed as a cold liquid seep through her veins. She twisted hard, the needle sliding out of her neck as she rounded on her attacker, but as she turned she lost balance and lurched to the side._

 _In front of her stood a silhouette, but her vision was too blurry to make out details, and the grimy light of the moon did little to reveal its face. The shadows had allied themselves with another. It looked like a demon to her, standing there so impassively, watching as the poison began draining her life._

" _Sorry about this, don't make it too messy." The leathery snap of a glove, and the shadow slipped behind the tree._

 _Whoever it was had just killed her. Perhaps it hadn't been a who, but a what. Perhaps she had just come face to face with death, and now, her time was up. That silhouette had just stolen everything from her._

 _Ruby felt the poison hit her heart and burst through every last nerve. She stumbled backwards, the unfamiliar feeling of fear clawing at her stomach. And she knew what that meant._

 _She twirled her scythe as she whipped back around, deflecting the first blow she knew was coming. The stinger was knocked away, but she didn't even see the claw coming from the side that knocked her into a tree. Her aura took the hit, and Ruby stood._

 _Four - no three - hulking shadows chittered in a semicircle around her, dozen of fuzzy glowing eyes tracing streaks of light through Ruby's vision as the forest blurred into swabs of grey and black. She couldn't do this. She needed to get out._

 _She turned and activated her semblance, but her legs were numb. She lurched as she pushed off the ground and flew through the air, uncontrolled. She cried out as she slammed into a tree. It cracked as her aura did, splintered and fell behind her._

 _The Deathstalkers had her, and they knew it._

 _They clacked their claws excitedly as their talons clamped into the ground. Their amorphous shadows closed in on her, towering darkness bearing down on her and blocking out the stars above. The only light left came from a sliver of shattered moon._

 _Ruby walked backwards as they advanced. Looked behind her and saw a drop off. She could not run. She was backed up, drugged, against a cliff with three Deathstalkers advancing._

 _She pulled her hood up, and levelled her scythe._

 _The first stinger came and she knocked it away. The second shot at her leg and she bunted it away with the butt of her scythe. The third gashed through her shoulder and Ruby cried out as liquid fire leapt through her body. She let go with her right hand and swung the blade up, cutting through the soft tissue just under the hook-like stinger. It slid out of her shoulder as it slid off the tail and the Deathstalker shrieked._

 _The next round of stingers came at the same time, one twisting behind her to go for her calf. Ruby saw it, but was forced to deal with the one shooting at her skull. She knocked it aside then tried to roll to avoid the other stinger, but stumbled and fell onto her wounded shoulder. Lightning arced through her and she couldn't help but scream._

 _She felt something slide through her leg smoothly. It took a moment for the pain to hit this time, but when it did, it lanced through her system. The drugs were taking her._

 _She still screamed._

 _She was on her back and she could see the nigh on golden spike pinning her quadricep to the ground. Another reared up above her and Ruby slashed at it, missed, and it buried itself in her stomach. She braced for the pain._

 _None came._

 _Ruby was dying._

 _She looked at the stinger buried in her stomach curiously. Detached, she watched as her scythe slid through the tail and separated it. She reached for the stinger, but her injured arm wouldn't move. She cocked Crescent Rose and it turned into a rifle as the uninjured Deathstalker crawled over her, its fangs opening, covered it glittering saliva as it approached. A gob dropped onto Ruby's chest, but she didn't even feel it. She just levelled the gun and pumped a dust round right through its eye._

 _An unholy shriek ripped through the air as it reared back onto its hind four legs. When it crashed down, on of the talons slammed onto Ruby's injured arm. She felt a sickening crunch, and this time the pain overwhelmed the drugs. She groaned, too tired to do anything more as an ocean of agony crushed her. She arched her back, but that just shifted the hundred shards of bone and she writhed uncontrollably._

 _She saw another Deathstalker slinking towards her. She raised Crescent Rose once more, but her arm was shaking, and when she shot the round bounced off its armor harmlessly. In response, its claw shot forward and took her leg._

 _The world flashed white and Ruby was consumed in a living hell. When she could see, she saw her leg disappearing into the gnashing maw of a Deathstalker. Blood dripped down and pooled beneath the monster's mouth, dribbling over Ruby's remaining leg. She looked at it in shock, trying to process what she was seeing._

 _Ice was spreading through her veins now, making it impossible to move. Her fingers were numb, and Ruby knew that death was calling to her. She managed to flail her head to the side just in time to lose sight of her arm in a Deathstalker mouth as it blotted out the world. It tickled as her arm was devoured._

 _She should fight._

 _But she couldn't._

" _Weiss…" The word dribbled from her mouth alongside her life-blood. Ruby had failed her. Weiss would be truly alone now. Ruby wished she could see her, just one last time._

 _She closed her eyes - all she saw was black now anyways, and let the Deathstalkers have their way._

 _The Grimm were merciless. Bones were stamped into puree as they trampled the huntress. Crescent Rose is the only thing they didn't touch, and its already red surface was stained a different kind of scarlet when scraps of flesh and muscle landed on it as the Deathstalkers tore the vestiges of Ruby Rose into tattered bits and pieces._

* * *

Ruby screamed as she shot up, a sheen of sweat covering her body. Fear and revulsion shook her and rattled her breath. Made her tremble. She was in the spare room again, the shadows looming large and heavy around her. Under the door though, she saw a sliver of pure light. She staggered towards it, almost drunkenly, and opened it. It felt like a breath of fresh air to see the kitchen, alight and devoid of shadows. It seemed someone had forgotten to turn it off.

"Ruby?" Blake, the shadow cat asked. Ruby whipped her head towards the voice to find Blake, wearing her house-coat and flicking her ear at the sudden disturbance. "What's wrong?"

The dream was fading quickly, once again slipping into the hazy fog of her past memories, but she ensnared one thought, one image. The shadow, nothing more than the utter and sheer absence of life, that had murdered her.

"I..." Ruby trailed off, troubled. It was just a nightmare right? There was nothing to it. It was just the manifestation of fear, caused by her being scared. Of what she wasn't certain. The death she had had? Nonetheless, fear was the enemy of any huntress, and Ruby needed to master it again. She couldn't entertain the idea that caused her fear.

"Nothing. Just a dream." She half-whispered. Blake cocked her head, but didn't press.

Ruby walked back into the shadows of her room and lay down on the couch. She didn't close the door to shut out the light.


	11. Chapter 11: Reach

Yang threw the hotel room door open and tossed her gym bag haphazardly by the bed. Her skin had a slight sheen on it from the sweat she had worked up at the gym. She had spent hours slamming her fists into punching bags and kicking them until her feet ached. It hadn't helped though. Every time her fist landed she just wanted to punch harder, faster, she had screamed, she had railed against the impassive bags, but nothing helped.

She slunk towards her bed, not bothering to close the door of the small room. She walked by the bathroom door to where the bed was and sat down heavily, hearing the stiff spring squeak. It smelled like damp dog.

Yang bent over and pulled the knot that kept her dark boot laced up and watched as it slid apart. Any facsimile of the knot's strength faded just by tugging on one little lace. It could have held together for months if she hadn't touched it, but one tug and it fell apart into a shambled mess. She looked at it curiously.

The room was dark. She was staying in a hotel rather than at her usual place on Pyrrha and Jaune's couch as her sister was staying there now. Ruby, alive and well, was probably lying there right now, dreaming peacefully.

A sharp needle of pain shot through Yang's skull and she gasped as she tensed, every muscle clenching against the ache. The pressure welled, squeezed, tightened, then broke. It faded completely in a few seconds.

It was well past midnight now. For three years, she hadn't rested peacefully, and tonight was no different. The only difference was rather than the unconscious nightmares that were her usual plague, now she had the roiling maelstrom of thoughts ripping through her mind that had kept her up, slamming against the unyielding bags.

The guilt had started as a void in her stomach. The twisting and clenching of her innards hadn't stopped, and it still felt like she had been punched in the gut over and over. But now it was physical too. Yang had tried to drink it away, but every time she tried to sip at her sweet poison, her hand started to shake and she couldn't bring herself to. If Ruby ever knew who Yang had become…

The guilt was bad. Her disappointment would be worse. Dust, Yang was supposed to be the older sister. Responsible, put together, caring… She was supposed to be a pillar for Ruby, who probably needed a bigger sister more than anything right now. But Yang couldn't be a sister right now. She was just trying to scratch the surface of human.

She threw her boot away and unlaced the second. Then she took off her shirt, pants, undergarments; the gauntlets came off last. She admired the gleaming gold for a minute. Even in the near pitch dark of the hour, they shone as though they had some inherent light. She grabbed some sweats and a tank top and threw them on. They were both black, but over her breast on the left side was a small white dove spreading its wings in a depiction of flight.

Yang was always unsure of the shirt. Sure, the bird could fly, but it was surrounded by darkness. What was the good of flying if you couldn't go anywhere meaningful?

There was a soft knock and the door creaked open. Yang jerked into a stance and her gaze shot to the door. A silhouette leaned against the doorframe, outlined by gold, with its hands in its pockets. Two little ear poked up on top of her head, and a blade hung in its sheath across her back. She was wearing all white tonight, except her purple sigil emblazoned on her right thigh.

"Hey," Blake said softly, almost as if she was talking to a wounded dog.

"What do you want?" Yang stepped out of her stance, but she didn't relax.

"I know what you brought back with you." Yang's eyes shot to the bedside table where the pills were hidden. "I'm going to need it." Yang's brow creased in confusion.

"What-"

"Crescent Rose." Blake said somewhat stiffly. "I'm taking Ruby on a hunt tomorrow. I know you have it, and while she's no slouch with a sword, she needs her scythe."

Yang's hands balled into fists, and her foot staggered slightly, dropping into a half stance. Then she was perfectly still for a moment.

" _You're what?"_ The words dripped with venom.

"She wants to hunt. Being cooped up in Vale isn't doing anything for her."

" _She's been dead for three years, and you're taking her on a HUNT?!"_

Blake looked at Yang steadily, not backing down even as Yang felt her skin start to heat up.

"Ye-"

Yang slammed into the faunus, tackling her to the hallway wall. She heard the air rush out of Blake's lungs as they smacked into the drywall, bending the soft material slightly.

"If you bring her anywhere near the forest, _I will gut you_." Yang hissed.

"Yang…" The word was choked as Yang's elbow pressed into Yang's ex-partner's throat. Blake's eyes were fiery, angered. Yang had seen that dangerous, cold fire before, but never directed at her.

Yang just pressed harder. "You won't go anywhere _near-"_

Blake pushed on her shoulders, sending Yang backwards. She managed to keep her hold and dragged the brunette with her, spinning and using the momentum to flip Blake onto the ground, falling on top of her.

She tried to scramble up, but the second her weight shifted, Blake grabbed her arm and whipped it to the side. The move threw Yang off balance, and as she started to fall, she felt a knee slam into her kidney.

She cried out and rolled across the floor, coming out on all fours, ready to spring into action. Blake was already standing, looking at her coolly.

"Yang," She was trying to sound calming.

"I just got my sister back," Yang growled. "And you want to _take her away again!"_ She screamed as she dashed forward and aimed a blow at Blake's chin. Her ex-partner ducked and slammed a fist into Yang's stomach. Blake caught her as Yang almost fell, hugging her tight to support her.

Yang let herself be held up for a moment as she caught her breath, limbs shaking, either from rage, fear, or exhaustion. Hot tears sprang to her eyes. Blake was going to kill Ruby.

Yang couldn't lose her again.

She would never see her sister again.

She was going to be left alone, staring at twin graves.

The woman who had been a mother to her.

And her sister.

Ruby...

Yang roared and grabbed Blake's arm near the shoulder, heaving upwards. She felt her semblance kicking in as the faunus left the ground and slammed into the roof a mere foot above their heads. She broke a sprinkler then fell back onto her stomach. Water jetted through the air, soaking Yang's skin and letting off a fine steam.

Yang didn't waste a second, stomping at Blake's head, but the faunus just rolled to the side and kicked as she twisted until she stood, catching Yang's ankle. She stumbled to the side, into the wall, pushed off it and swung.

Blake snapped a palm into Yang's forearm, deflecting the swing, then slammed her other hand into Yang's solar plexus. The force of the blow sent Yang crashing back into her room and sliding across the floor. Blake walked in after her, calmly. Yang scampered backwards, but Blake just held out a hand to help her up.

Yang grabbed it and pulled, sticking her foot across the raven haired woman's ankles, bringing her down on top of Yang. She locked her arms around the faunus and rolled, getting on top.

"You can't take her away!" Yang screamed as her fist struck down, only missing by the grace of a quick twitch on the faunus' part.

"Yang!" Blake yelled, shoving her off and into the bed frame. "Calm down!" She said as the two women stood slowly, warily, as mirror images.

Yang took a menacing step forward, and this time Blake leapt into action. She stepped inside Yang's guard faster than the blonde thought was possible, grabbing her arm as she flowed past. Yang recognized the throw a moment before it happened and a moment after she could do anything. She flipped over Blake's hip and landed in a puff on the stiff mattress of her bed.

Hot tears streamed down her face as she saw Blake's silhouette land on top of her and pin her limbs down. She writhed, but it was no use. Blake had been at her peak for years; Yang had barely been getting by.

Yang shook her head from side to side.

"Blake, please," She begged. "You can't. Don't do this. Please... Blake, please,"

"Yang, it's going to be fine,"

"I don't - I can't -" She broke off in a sob.

"She's going to be okay."

"-lose her." Yang sobbed. The weight on her arms and legs disappeared, and Yang reached forward to clutch at Blake. "I can't lose her Blake. Not again. Please. You can't do this."

Blake, now beside her, just reached out and hugged her as Yang curled into a ball next to her, the tears leaking into the bed. A soft hand stroked her hair calmly, no longer trying to convince, just reassure.

"She won't leave you again." The faunus spoke softly. "I'll make sure of it."

Blake, the huntress Yang should have been. The grace to her fall. She would do Yang's job.

Another sob wracked Yang's body, and she just clutched at her partner. The shadow that had become light.

Time passed. The red tinge of the world Yang hadn't even noticed faded. The trembling slowed, calmed by the reassuring presence beside her.

"You can promise that?" Yang finally spoke, breaking the tense silence.

"Of course." Blake's voice held the confidence of someone who knew when they would fail. And this would not be one of those times.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips. She clenched her eyes shut. She tried to squeeze them hard enough to squeeze the fear out of her stomach, but to no avail. She stood, her legs shaky, and walked to the closet. She opened it, and withdrew the black box with a rose emblem upon it.

She turned, holding it out to Blake. The faunus took it without hesitation, and Yang felt like a part of her soul was ripped away as the box left her hands. It was all she had left of her sister.

"Thank you," Blake said with a small smile.

Yang didn't answer. She walked numbly towards the bed, trying to hold away the shaking, just long enough for Blake to leave.

She fell into the tousled sheets heavily, then drew her knees up under her chin, sitting on it as she had those long nights after she had found out about summer.

The silhouette walked back towards the goldenly lit hallway from which it had come. Purposeful, sure, everything that Yang had once been. Everything Blake had once lacked.

"Blake?" The question came out nervous and hesitant. The silhouette paused, turned slightly, listened. "Will you stay?"

There was a pause, and Yang felt that moment stretch into an eternity.

"Okay,"

* * *

 **Release dates are going to be pretty spaced out from now on. Whole lot of work picking up right now, and not a whole lot I can do to make time to write. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, though I didn't much like it. I just feel like I needed to get something out, or I was never going to write again.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Unjax**


	12. Chapter 12: The Hours Before The Light

He was quiet.

He had been too quiet lately.

Ruby was on their couch, dreaming. Probably not good dreams though. Probably nightmares, from all the shuffling and whimpering that flitted into her ears from the hall.

Pyrrha stood in the doorway, hesitant. There he sat, on the edge of the bed. He smelled of whisky and port for the first time since they had wed, years ago. A pit was beginning to grow in her stomach, sucking away the joy and light that normally filled her days, especially so close to her husband.

There was a question on her pursed lips, the kind that everyone feared to ask and few ever found the courage to voice. It was one that crossed the minds of all who loved, at some point. It was not a reasonable question; she hadn't even a single fact to support the feeling of emptiness and aloneness that had inhabited her as of late, and yet she felt it. It was beyond quantification, it went beyond her place rooted in reality, and it was felt in the deepest corners of her heart. And that drove the question to her lips.

"Are we alright?" Softly spoken, as if treading on broken glass or hot stones. Too much pressure and she would bleed, and in this, she may never recover.

Ocean eyes turned to meet her own emerald crystals. His face was a mask, the stone carving an artist makes of the anonymous; no identity, no feeling. That man was not Jaune.

And then the stone crumbled, his face fell, his fists clenched in unvoiced pain, and Pyrrha's heart cried out for the man she loved. Her question forgotten, she made her way to the bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned his head against her shoulder, and though the stench of the alcohol offended her, Pyrrha bore the burden well. Anything to help him now, of all times.

"I'm sorry," He whispers quietly. "I love you." In those words were all the reassurance she needed. It was not her that was causing him such pain. It was something beyond both of their controls, and all she could do was be with him now.

"What is it then?" She asked, and he jolted away from her as if her words had struck him.

"I don't know how to feel about… Everything. She's back, and I'm so happy. But every time I see her, it's like she's a reflection. Like she's not there. And then I remember what it's like when she went, and never came back."

"There's no reason to think that that's going to happen again." Pyrrha soothed, putting her hand on his shoulder. She wanted him to know she was there.

He stood, and she withdrew her hand, feeling as though he had just slapped her. He didn't want her to be there.

"There's no reason to think it won't though. None of us know what's happening. I tried to get a hold of Weiss - she's always been the smartest, but she hasn't even answered. No one gets what's happening. For all we know, we could wake up tomorrow and she could be gone. When she was out with Blake today, I went to check on her - I just forgot she was out - and when she wasn't there it felt like it was happening all over." He looked up at her, his eyes as deep as the sea. "Do you remember what it was like?"

The look in his eyes… It tore at Pyrrha's heart in a way she had never known, it wrenched in sympathy… And hurt. She ignored it.

"It was horrible," She conceded. "But we can make sure it doesn't happen again."

"You don't get it," He murmured with a sad huff, turning away so she could only see the outline of his back in the darkness of the room. "And how could we make sure it doesn't happen?"

"I…" Pyrrha paused. Was now a good time to bring this up? Was there a good time? But it would happen tomorrow anyways. She would be blindsiding him either way. "Blake and I were talking today. We're taking Ruby on a hunt tomorrow."

Jaune stilled, became rigid. Then he collapsed, sat down heavily on the opposite side of the bed.

"There's nothing I can say to change that, is there?" His voice was like granite. Hard, edged, and terrifying. It made Pyrrha's heart tremble.

"No, Blake is set on this." Her eyes found the floor, the only constant in this whirlwind of incomprehensible maelstrom of emotions. "And I agree with her." He was mad, he was sad, he was hurt, he was scared. She was compassionate, afraid, guarded, alone. He didn't want anything to do with her right now. He didn't want to look at her. "Jaune…" She pleaded, the silent request heavy in her voice.

He just lay down and pulled the sheets over him, never looking at her. He was not asleep, but he would say no more. He would not let her touch him.

It felt like someone had skewered Pyrrha's heart with a barbed stake. It beat, and she almost collapsed. A tear fell down her cheek as she reached for him hesitantly. But she couldn't touch him now. She wanted to be sick, she wanted to leave, she wanted to talk, she wanted him to hug her and tell her it would be alright.

It could never happen. Not now.

So she walked out of the room. She would not be sleeping tonight.

The kitchen was dark, and she didn't bother to turn on the lights. Pyrrha flicked the switch on the coffee maker and listened silently as the grumbling of the machine began, signaling that time was indeed still passing, for the world could have fooled Pyrrha about that.

Everything was silent and still here. The deepest hours of the night were a purgatory. The evils slunk and curled around, but could do nothing until the morning when movement began again. The pieces were set, but it would not be until Jaune left their room in the morning that anything would happen. Not until their eyes met again. Then, the words she new were coming would be spoken. The ones that would hurt. That would shred her into a million pieces. But it was only fair, Pyrrha had gone behind his back today. She had hurt him.

Why was this happening?

They hadn't a perfect marriage. No one did. They had argued before, about where to live mostly. He had wanted to move away from Vale, she had wanted to stay and continue the life they had built with so many around them. Yang had gone first, and Blake had followed her. Jaune had wanted to go too, a few years later. Whether to get away or because the job he had been offered there was better, she had not known. She had urged him to stay though. Eventually, he had conceded. They traveled plenty though, so they were both happy.

When they had fought then, every night they would put aside the argument. They would hold each other tenderly as the waves of time slowly lulled them to sleep. Then, the night had been a purgatory of a different sort, a reprieve from the reluctant conversations they both knew they had to have, but neither wanted. Not of the judgement to come.

Now, they were divided.

Pyrrha knew she was strong. She had spent so much of her life alone already, it didn't seem like one night of solitude in the kitchen with nothing but a coffee in her hand for company should have been an issue. The greatest fear she should have was boredom.

But it wasn't. The greatest fear was the loneliness. She loved Jaune, and he wasn't here with her. And the question sat heavily in her mind; would they ever be alright?

It was irrational, she told herself. They were a team. He loved her. She loved him. And nothing could overcome that.

But that cold silence as he had lain himself to sleep…

Could they?

* * *

Ruby awoke, her icy blue eyes shooting open widely as an excited buzz filled her stomach. For the first time, the hollow pit that had been consuming her lulled, replaced by anticipation for the day to come.

Today, she would hunt.

She threw the covers off her makeshift bed and quickly scrambled to put them away for the day. She grabbed her new grey garments and ducked into the hall quickly, dashing into the washroom. She tore off the nightwear that Pyrrha had leant her off and threw on her clothes with unparalleled fervor.

She stopped briefly then, took a breather, tried to calm down. But the energy would not be contained. It soared through her like a wild bird, flitting around and singing in joy. She looked at herself in the mirror, locking eyes with the cool blue of the gaze that was staring back at her. They were bright and happy, free of the pain and fear that had haunted her since she had returned. Today, she got to do what she loved.

She splashed some cold water on her face, shaking the last clinging vestiges of sleepiness from her mind, and exited the bathroom. She walked into the kitchen, ready to get some breakfast, only to find Pyrrha already there.

The scarlet haired woman was sat at the table, a full cup of coffee devoid of the usually accompanying steam in her hands. She had been there a while. Her eyes were vacant, lost in far off thoughts and fears. Ruby's excitement buckled in concern for her friend.

"Pyrrha?" She called softly from the doorway. The huntress started in her seat, her mouth opening in surprise as she realised Ruby was there, then down at the coffee in her hand. She smiled thinly and lay it down in front of her.

"Hello Ruby," Ruby knew that voice. The kind that was pretending to be okay, even though it was in pain - tried to convince others, if only to convince itself.

"Are you alright?" The other woman rose rather than answer, already dressed in her full combat gear. She looked glamorous, like a goddess ready to strike. She was an imposing figure; tall and slim, but powerful with a build like that of a leopard. Today, it was ruined by the fragility of her smile.

"I'm.. fine," She wasn't, and they both knew it. Ruby glanced at the entrance to Jaune and Pyrrha's room down the hall. It would be locked, she was sure. He was the only one who had ever been able to do this to Pyrrha, for better or worse. It was sad and beautiful, in the way that love was. She imagined another couple, young, bold, and fragile. She knew, deep down, that as much as she missed Weiss, she was also the only person capable of making Ruby look as Pyrrha did now. And it left her wondering, how much pain was love worth?

"Would you like some eggs?" Pyrrha asked, making her way to the fridge. busying herself with the work of a hostess, as though the matters of the mind might be forgotten.

Hollow once more, Ruby nodded her head.

* * *

Blake looked at the tangled mass of blonde hair lying next to her in bed, peaceful once the shaking had stopped. As Yang had fallen asleep, she had cried and writhed, but soothing touches and soft whispers stilled her, and now she looked almost as beautiful as those days before she had broken. It was a single frame in time of the woman that Blake had been convinced for so long was still there, but had always feared would never return.

But under all the grief and pain, under the self-loathing and deprecation, she was there. Blake could see it in front of her. And knowing that now, she knew she would never be able to stop fighting for her old partner back. If she had to go to the ends of the world, she knew she would.

She tucked a stray strand of straw-gold hair behind Yang's ear, her stomach turning over itself in nervousness and abject terror. The moment was a glass mosaic. Everything was normal. They were back at Beacon, meeting for the first time. They were training together. They were hunting together. It was all the same. But on the brink of shattering.

"I've missed you," She whispered to the woman she had known so well, that had sheltered her when her darkest days dawned on her doorstep, when the shadows of the past came creeping back and tried to drag her into the darkness.

But it was the same woman who had run.

Slight stirring stilled Blake's tongue. Lilac eyes opened to the earliest rays of the day's light. They washed over her and made her almost glow with a soft tone. She looked peaceful, just for a moment, as she smiled at Blake like old partners, lost in that moment between worlds of peace and chaos, of dreams and life. And then the memories returned. Of why they were where they were. Of why Blake would be getting up to leave. A flicker of something akin to betrayal danced across her eyes, and the other woman was back. The one devoid of the joy and happiness that characterized Yang.

"Morning," Blake said with a forced turning up of her lips, trying to grapple the new visage back to where it had come from so that the real Yang could stay.

"You're going, aren't you?"

"We'll both come back." Blake assured. It was the worst thing she could have said, but perhaps the only thing she could have.

"Yeah…"

Silence. Dead as her joy. For a moment.

"When I go," Blake murmured, nerves brimming in her stomach. "Would you come with me?"

Yang looked away, towards the dresser. She was deciding. Would she stay? Buy a phial of her poison, knock it back, forget the pain, run away, hide…

Or would she go? Would she try to be the sister Ruby needed? Would she try to be the person she should have been? Would she be as she was. The same one Blake had-

"Alright," The voice wobbled, but the resolve was there, weak and fragile as it may be. "I'll go."

* * *

 **And we're back! Sorry the last two chapters have been kind of not Ruby-focused. I'm trying to use the other characters to give some depth and perception into what has happened between Ruby and Weiss, and build on the ideas I want this story to get people thinking about.**

 **I've been trying to focus on prose a lot. The section with Jaune and Pyrrha felt good, the rest alright. I'll try and keep making it better as we go.**

 **For those of you looking for another letter, fear not! It'll be here soon. There was just a lot that had to be shown before the next one came. All I'm saying is that these past few chapters had to happen for the full impact of the letter.**

 **Finally, thank you all so much! HOT DAMN! Over 100 reviews, 150+ favs, 300+ follows! You're all fantastic, and I'll do my best to get these chapters out as quickly as possible for you all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **-Unjax**


	13. Chapter 13: Lost

"Hey Ruby,

"This isn't the first time I've come to talk to you. But you left again today. Not like last time. Not really. But it feels the same. Because I don't know if you're coming back."

He was knelt in front of the unmoving grey stone that housed so many memories, so many ghosts, but had never really held anything or anyone underneath its grim reminder.

"I'm scared. I know Blake and Pyrrha are with you. They might be the two most capable huntresses I know, after you. They'll make sure you're safe, even though you probably won't need it. You've always been strong. It's one of the reasons-

"I know I've been unfair. And I'm sorry. I've missed you so much, and I'm so happy you're back. But you were gone before, and that… changed things. I… Don't know if I'm ready to face the parts of me I had to leave behind when you went. I don't know if I can look at you without all of it coming to the forefront of my mind every single damned time. Because I'm happy now. Or I was, before, when you were dead. There was always a piece of me that was sad, but I had Pyrrha. I guess I _have_ Pyrrha. Or maybe not. I don't-

"I'm so scared. I'm scared that all of this coming up is going to ruin everything. And I can't help it. I can't help how I'm feeling. I try to rationalize it - people don't just drop dead right? But people also don't just start breathing again. It doesn't make any sense, and rationality breaks down, and when all reason is gone, the only guide we have left is how we feel.

"And I know that I can't trust that.

"When you went, I hated you. I hated that you left all of us, just like that. One day we had our silver eyed hope, the one who was convinced we could best the Grimm, that we could well and truly, finally save the world. And then you were gone. You were dust and ashes spread thin on the wind. You were a ghost of a memory. I could picture your face so perfectly, but you were gone.

"I hated you so much for that. Because you left me, and everyone else. I was afraid of a world without you. My first friend. The first person who I had ever meant anything to. And do you know what that means? You were the first person, other than my family, that I cared about. It felt like you had ripped my soul out and torn it to shreds. But how do you hate a ghost? They aren't really there. So you have to forgive them. You have to say it was alright. It wasn't really their fault, just like it wasn't really your fault. Regardless of the choices you made that may have led to that, we are machines fueled by circumstance. You had as much control over your life as anyone else, and we all know how much that really is.

"Besides all that, what's the point? If I get mad at someone I love when they're alive, it's so that maybe they won't make that mistake in the future. It's so we can learn, and protect. But you were already dead. I couldn't be mad at you, because there was no one to be mad at.

"So I forgave you. And once the anger was gone, all that was left was the gaping hole in my heart you left behind. I was never sure if I would recover. How do you heal a part of you that has left forever?

"But she was there, by my side every step of the way. I already knew that I felt… Something for her, and it grew. She's incredible. She strong, passionate, kind, and selfless. I don't know how it was she was able to heal herself and me all at once… What kind of strength does that take? I love her, for everything she is, and everything she has been to me.

"But you're back now. And that anger… I don't know if it was ever really gone. It's certainly still there, burning away at me. I'm trying not to feel it. I'm trying to forget that you made the choice knowing full well it might leave us behind.

"I suppose that's the fate of heroes. We're all going to die doing this, being huntsmen. We knew it when we signed up. We're to be the brilliant lights that burn so bright the darkness can never come back. We're supposed to drive off the Grimm and protect everyone, at whatever personal cost to us. Even if it burns through our wicks when we're not ready. You were the best. And even though you were doing your duty, I think you shirked another responsibility. To us.

"You betrayed us.

"You betrayed _me._

"So you'd better come back, Red. You had better not die. Because if you go again, I don't think I can ever forgive you. And I sure as hell don't know if I can survive."

* * *

The kettle whistled and blew steam angrily out of its top. Jaune sighed heavily and stood, the darkness that had settled over the kitchen obscuring his view slightly. The sun had gone down, and he supposed that now was as good a time as any to turn on the lights. They snapped on at the flick of a switch, and he stepped over to the stove, lifted the kettle and set it on the countertop.

He reached up and opened a cupboard, and the fine china therein rattled faintly as he withdrew a teacup and its accompanying plate. He grabbed a tea bag and set beside the cup, then poured the freshly boiled water into the cup. A few stray bubbles popped on the surface of the water, but Jaune ignored them. He put the teabag in and watched as the faint yellow-green tinge of the tea seeped into the liquid, slowly diffusing throughout the entirety of the drink. What was once clear was now muddied.

Jaune returned to the table and sat, waiting for the tea to cool. He hadn't much else to do. He was alone with his thoughts, and nothing could save him from their choking grip. Every second Ruby was dying all over again, and as much as he tried to chase the thoughts from his mind, they plagued him still. They would never leave him, he didn't think. They were there to stay.

Thoughts of her death were not his only predator this night. There was also Pyrrha, and their strained marriage. He had never intended for that to suffer. He had not meant to be so cold to her yesterday. She had not deserved that, but he could not help it. It was as if she were telling him that Ruby was going to die all over again, and she was to facilitate it. Maybe he should have gone with them. To what? Protect Ruby? Show Pyrrha his support? This was not something he could condone, it was disastrous. It was terrifying.

He absent-mindedly brought his tea to his lips, taking a sip without blowing on it. He hissed in pain as the tea burned his tongue, the freshly boiled liquid searing his tongue and lips and making them tingle in that horribly uncomfortable way. He set the tea down hurriedly, splashing more no his hand. He nearly swore, but held his tongue, shaking his hand furiously to remove the still burning liquid.

He got up and went to the sink, turning on the cold water. He left it a moment to reach the desired temperature, and then sipped at it, holding the water in his mouth to alleviate the burning. He let his hand soak under the icy water, feeling its bite almost as acutely as that of the tea.

There was a knock at the door, so Jaune spat out the water he had been holding in his mouth. He did not want to answer that call; last time he had it had flipped his world upside down. He just wanted to sit on the couch with a movie playing and Pyrrha snuggled up against him. He wanted to fall asleep by her side, their hands clasped as they looked into each other's eyes. She was the last thing he saw before he slept, and the first thing when he awoke. She was the light in his world. Since that day though, he had seen the blank, pale, heartless wall every day that he woke up. He was woken by the blaring of his alarm rather than the soft touch of his wife. And his days were filled with strained words rather than soft peals of laughter that rang in his ears like music.

He just wanted that all back.

He took a deep breath and opened the door. Before him was a tall woman of platinum. Her almost white hair was swept over in a bang and drawn back into a tight ponytail. She wore a blue waistcoat over a brilliantly white shirt that flared out at the cuffs. She wore practical pants of a shimmering silver and tall blue boots. She stood proud and strong - stiff, like a soldier. Her eyes betrayed her though. They held an edge of fear that chipped her otherwise perfect mold.

"Winter?" He asked, befuddled. He had hardly seen her. They had only met in fleeting terms a handful of times at gatherings for the SDC when Weiss had invited Pyrrha and himself. He could count the number of words they had exchanged on his hands.

"Is she here?" Winter demanded, her voice tight and higher than it ought to be.

"How do you know about that?" Jaune was taken aback.

"Her scroll." Ruby didn't have a scroll. Jaune frowned.

"What are you talking abou-"

"Don't play games, Arc. Where is Weiss?"

"Weiss? I haven't heard from Weiss since…" He trailed off. How long had it been since he had talked with the heiress?

"Her scroll is here. Don't try and tell me that she is not."

"Wait, why are you looking for Weiss? I thought this was about Ruby."

"Ruby? Ruby Rose?" She looked as confounded as Jaune felt. He sighed.

"Why don't you come inside." Jaune suggested. "I've just boiled water for tea. Careful though, it's hot."

* * *

"So Weiss is missing. " Jaune mulled the thought over in his head. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"Yes, and I trust you to be discreet in the matter. Father contacted me as he didn't want even the SDC's security to know of this. Officially, she is enjoying a vacation, and her secretary has been told to turn away all calls that are not vital business. Those get redirected to me, for the time being."

"You're working for your father's company now?" She gave him a thin smile.

"On a… Temporary basis. I just wish to find my sister."

"What happened?" Jaune asked, his brow creasing in concentration.

"I don't quite know. My sister and I used to be in constant contact. She would write me about Beacon, tournaments, the SDC later on - though those letters became increasingly less frequent. When her friend, Ruby, died, she stopped writing. She would reply with curt, short, and dry writing to anything I sent, no more than one or two sentences.

"A month ago, those stopped. I wrote her time and again, tried to message her via scroll, called her… Nothing. Blackout. I asked father where she had been, but he didn't know. So I tracked her scroll. It was gone for a while. Then, a few days ago, it registered here. To Vale. I figured you and your wife would be the only ones she would be here to visit. So I came."

She finished and took a calm sip of her tea. Jaune eyed his own warily. He had not forgotten their earlier dispute.

"Weiss isn't here." He said after a moment. "But Ruby Rose is. Well, not now - she's on a hunt - but she's been living here." Winter paused, her icy eyes flicking up to meet Jaune's. She set her tea down and swept her hair to the side.

"Ruby Rose has been dead for years now."

"She was." Jaune admitted.

"What are you saying." Jaune sighed heavily.

"We don't know. A few days ago she knocked on our door. She doesn't know how she got here, or what's happened. I tried calling Weiss and seeing what she made of it. Obviously, that didn't work. There is one thing though." Winter straightened, her attention focused. "Ruby has blue eyes now."

A silence. Jaune could not deny the connections his brain was making. Weiss goes missing, Ruby is alive, and her eyes were now of the same glacial tint as those that were boring into him.

"I think," Winter breathed, fear cutting her voice to the ghost of a whisper, setting her tea down and standing. "That we must find Weiss sooner rather than later. Give me your scroll." She offered her hand, and Jaune obliged, setting the small tablet in her palm. She tapped a few buttons quickly, then handed it back. "I will go to the SDC tower in Vale and see if I can access any of Weiss' files. When Ruby returns, contact me immediately. I will be in touch."

And she swept out of the room in a huff, the door banging closed behind her before Jaune could even set down his tea and say a proper farewell.

There was a cawing outside, and Jaune looked up just in time to see a raven flap out of sight.

* * *

 **I know, I know... Ruby's the main character right? I intended for most of the past chapters to all be one, and then they kind of ran away on me. This brings an end to that though, and we'll get to see Ruby for the next batch of chapters. It's also been a while since Ruby got a letter...**

 **Anyways, I hope you're all still enjoying! This chapter sets up a lot of Jaune's conflict, as well as introduces Winter. She won't be a major part in the story, but she still plays a vital role. Weiss is officially missing, and I'll let you all guess what that may or may not mean.**

 **Thanks for reading. Any thoughts, opinions, tips or tricks are appreciated! I love the feedback.**

 **-Unjax**


	14. Chapter 14: The Hunt Begins

Ruby twirled, her scythe feeling so natural in her hands, even after so long. She knew exactly where to step, exactly how to move, and exactly how to hunt.

In front of her, the Beowolf slid in two moments before it turned to dust and blew away, but Ruby was already gone. She ducked under the swing of another Grimm and carved upwards, slicing a massive gouge through its chest. She danced and twirled, weaving under a claw before severing it, kicking off the beast's back and burying her scythe in one of its compatriots' head.

Ruby spared a glance towards the rest of her team. Pyrrha was gliding between the wolves as if she knew exactly what they would do a second before they did.

Across the meadow from her, Yang was struggling against three of the larger beasts. One of them knocked her backwards, sending her cartwheeling through the air and smacking into a tree. Blake screeched at the monsters and charged.

She was a furious shadow, so fast Ruby's eyes could not follow her as she danced towards her partner. One of the Beowolves leapt for her from behind and Ruby took aim down her sights, pulled her trigger, and-

Nothing.

Blake whirled just in time and liberated the creature's head from its body before twisting away to parry the next blow that was heading her way. Yang stood, wobbled slightly, but took her stance against the Beowolves. Ruby looked down at Crescent Rose, puzzled. Had it just _jammed?_

"Nnn-ya!" Came the grunt of effort from behind her and Ruby turned to see Pyrrha shove a Grimm twice her size backwards, forcing its claw away from Ruby. She snapped out of her haze and descended once more into the fray.

One of the wolves, larger than the rest, swept at Ruby. It had armor-like ribs covering its torso and long, pointed ears. An alpha. She sidestepped, but it came at her again, stomping at where she stood. Ruby rolled underneath it, came up on the other side, turned to strike its ankle and cripple it.

A claw smacked into her and sent her flying, her aura absorbing the blow. She tumbled, head over heels, came up on her feet and skidded to a stop. Pyrrha was already between her and the wolves.

"Are you alright?" The huntress asked.

"I'm fine," Ruby called back, shaking her head. She was supposed to be faster than that. What was going on?

Two of the Grimm dove at Pyrrha simultaneously, and she slid to the side, smooth as water, and impaled one of them on her spear. The other flew past, towards Ruby, and it had no qualms about changing targets. It barreled towards her, and Ruby leapt forward to meet it. It rose above her, blotted out the sun-

And suddenly the day was gone. It was night. The shattered moon hung low in the sky and three hulking figures chittered in the mouth of a cave and something cold slid into her neck and ice spread through her body and the nothingness crept in from the sides and

Ruby collapsed, screamed, dropped Crescent Rose. Pyrrha was above her in an instant, eviscerating her attacker. The circle of Grimm closed in on them as Ruby keeled over, hand on her stomach. It felt cold and empty. She vomited, the bile burning her throat as she retched painfully.

"Ruby!" Somewhere, far distant from wherever Ruby was, Yang called to her.

The alpha launched itself at Pyrrha and she was forced to roll to the side, leaving Ruby exposed. One of the Beowolves pounced, massive jaws opening to devour her. Ruby reached, grabbed her scythe, and brought it up just in time to skewer the monster. She felt energy course through her limbs as two more came at her, and she pushed, hard.

She felt her aura tense, and suddenly she was on the other side of the circle of Grimm. Rose petals flitted down around the confused beasts as they turned, slowly, dumbly. Only the alpha recovered quickly and lunged at her, even as Pyrrha's spear flew through the back of its skull and out its mouth. It made a garbled sound of surprise, then collapsed and began dissolving.

Low barks and growls rose warily from the remaining twenty or so Beowolves. Pyrrha walked forward calmly, with the cool confidence of someone who knew they had nothing to fear. The wolves looked at her, perhaps wary.

Then they bolted. Blake was beside Ruby a moment later, and Pyrrha was already dashing after them. "This is your specialty Ruby." Blake said from beside her with a grin. "Use your semblance."

"What?" Yang demanded from a dozen yards away. "She is _not_ going after them alone."

"She's the only one that can catch them."

"Then let them go!" Yang shouted, marching up to Blake, standing eye to eye with the faunus, but Blake didn't so much as flinch. The air surrounding the two crackled with tension and the two huntresses stood apart, muscles tensed.

"We're huntresses, Yang. Not mercenaries." There was venom from an old wound coming up in those words. "We don't let Grimm go, we kill them. We finish the job." There was steel in Blake's voice, a sort of cold strength. Yang burned, bright, but fickle, and could do nothing to thaw her resolve. Yang's shoulders slumped in defeat.

Blake turned to look at Ruby, and nodded.

She grinned. The energy surged in her once more and she pushed off, feeling the world fly by below her. The Beowolves were disappearing into the forest, and with each step, Pyrrha found herself further behind them. But not Ruby. In a moment, she was on them.

Crimson death flashed forth from her, severing two of the beasts' heads at once, and Ruby twirled, decapitating a third before any of the others knew what was happening. A strangled bark from a creature off to the side alerted the rest, and they turned slowly.

Ruby let them asses her, smiling ever so slightly to herself. This was who she was. This was her destiny. It was just her and the incarnations of anonymity and fear. She was the light, and she would cleanse the world of their shadow.

She pulled the red hood over her head, and readied her scythe. It was just her now. They would surely attack.

And they did.

The largest of the remaining sprang at her, but its jaws clamped down on nothing but rose petals, and Crescent Rose was already cleaving one of its pack in two.

* * *

There was a soft clanging somewhere in the wall behind Ruby as their airship drifted lazily through the night sky. Yang had turned in early, saying she didn't feel well. Ruby suspected that the cuts and bruises lacing her own arms and torso may have been the cause of that, but she let it slide. Yang had always worried for her, it was what big sisters did. Pyrrha had stepped into a private study to call Jaune on her scroll - he had left her a message while they were hunting - and that left Blake as the only other occupant of the ship's common area. Ruby was surprised the other woman was still awake; it was well past midnight now.

The faunus was the one who had commissioned the luxurious vehicle for their travels. It left Ruby wondering how successful her friend had been over the past few years, but she didn't bother her by asking. Blake was curled up reading a black, leather bound book, knees tucked up to her chest. She looked like the young woman Ruby had met back on her first day of Beacon, curled up and reading in the candlelight.

Ruby held the memory, twirling it about, thinking about every miniscule detail she could remember. Blake's bow, the soft light, the soft whispers of other students too excited to sleep… She wanted to control all of it, every single last vestige of the memory. So many of them still eluded her, but her first day at Beacon was one of the strongest memories she had. It was when she had met all of them, except Pyrrha. It was the day she had met Weiss.

Typical of the heiress to foul up their first meeting.

It seemed ironic, thinking back to that moment. They had become so much more than just friends, or at least from what she could tell from Weiss' letters. All she could remember were fragments; the crystalline shine of an eye as she stroked soft skin, a peel of laughter so clear the world seemed brighter for a moment, her warmth against Ruby in long nights…

But she couldn't remember any of it properly. Those were the memories that eluded her. Of Weiss.

And of her mother.

Of the ones she loved, but had lost.

Ruby could feel it again, the pit opening in her stomach. Like rocks grinding her innards to a pulp. And her heart felt like it had been torn, leaving a hollow, scarred ruin behind. If Blake hadn't been there, Ruby would certainly have cried.

There was a buzzing in her pocket that reverberated against her seat. Ruby snatched the scroll out quickly and muted it, but from the tilt of Blake's ears, Ruby knew the other girl had heard. The faunus lowered her book a moment later, and looked at Ruby.

"You have a scroll."

"Umm… Yes?" Blake narrowed her eyes.

"And how come no one knew about this?"

Ruby stayed quiet, still fighting against the scrambling of her insides. She wanted Weiss there. She wanted that phantom tingle of a cool hand on hers to solidify into something real and for Weiss to be right there next to her.

"Ruby, what aren't you telling me?" Blake's voice sharpened to a dangerous edge.

Silence hung thick in the air. Ruby looked down at the scroll in her hand, the little green button that was flashing. A letter, from Weiss.

"Ruby?"

She couldn't say… It was all Weiss had asked of her.

"Nothing," Ruby whispered hoarsely, squeezing her eyes shut. She didn't want to lie like this. Not to Blake. Not to anyone.

"Ruby," Blake warned.

"I…" She looked down at her hands, the scroll clutched therein. "Blake, there's something that I don't think any of you ever knew." She couldn't tell Blake everything. Not quite, but she needed to tell someone about what they had been. She couldn't bear to be alone with that secret any longer, surrounded by the darkness of solitude.

There was a rapping on the door and Pyrrha slid the metal door to the side. Her shoulders were drawn back tightly, militant, contrary to her usual relaxed pose. Her scroll was grasped firmly in her other hand, still on from her call with Jaune.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, but there's something you need to hear."

"What is it?" Blake inquired calmly, ears perked and attentive.

"Let's get Yang first." Pyrrha said tiredly, as if a huge weight bore down on her.

* * *

The place stank of alcohol, sweat and sick. Winter wrinkled her nose. From what she had heard, this habit ran in the family, but by dust, did those damn Branwen's have to pick such filthy establishments? Her query could certainly afford better, but this was where he had decided to spend his days after his niece had died. She almost walked away then and there, but this was, of all things, the right one to do.

Besides, he was one of the most useful idiots around.

He was laughing with the barmaid as he slapped another few lien on the table. She seemed to be genuinely enjoying his company, something Winter was sure she didn't understand.

"Another of your finest scotches." Qrow drawled lazily, sliding the lien up the counter, no doubt winking at the lady.

"Make it a water." Winter chimed in over his shoulder and sat beside the miserable excuse of a man. The barmaid rose an eyebrow and Qrow waved his hand at her. She slunk off to get the drink. "I can stand you even less when you reek of that deplorable substance."

"Like you've never had any." She hadn't.

There was a thunk and Qrow's glass was set on the bar again. Scotch. Weiss wrinkled her nose. The young woman serving looked at Winter a little… Enviously? Wait, she had actually been _flirting_ with Qrow before Winter showed up. Winter shuddered.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Qrow gave her a full grin, which seemed to assuage the maid's jealousy.

"Disgusting," Winter whispered under her breath.

"An old man can't still look for love?"

"Not with someone as old as his nieces."

"Niece," Qrow corrected viciously, hand gripping the glass so tight his knuckles turned white. Winter let him have a minute to re-compose.

"Nieces," Winter urged again, and a dangerous look came over Qrow. It was like a summer storm breaking; beautiful, and then terrifying.

"I don't know what you're playing at here." He stood and towered over her. "But you'd better leave real quick."

"We're in public. Be decent."

"You know what happened to _her_."

"I have some news about that." Qrow glared at her for a moment, scarlet eyes burning into glacially cold ones.

"I'm sure one of the others would have come to me if there was anything to say."

"You haven't talked to anyone for years. You didn't want to be found."

"Don't flatter yourself, if I didn't want to be found, you wouldn't have found me."

"Would you shut up for two seconds?" She hissed.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes,"

"Too bad I've always had a rebellious streak. Now, I was enjoying my drinks, and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me in peace with them.."

"Qrow, this is important."

"All you Atlesians think everything you have to say is so important. What makes this different?"

"Because Ruby Rose is _alive_." She snapped. "She's staying with the Arcs. 29-11, Apartment J. Thought you'd want to know." He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "We don't know how, we don't know why. And _that_ is why I'm telling you. We need to figure out what's happening, and as much as you revolt me, you're the best there is at finding these things out."

"That… Doesn't make sense."

Winter said nothing. Qrow studied her carefully, no doubt trying to discern if she was honest. He would find no lie in her eye.

"Alright," He said, his voice completely neutral. He waved to the barmaid, and she smiled brightly as she sauntered over. "The lady's paying for my drink."

And with that, Qrow got up and left, leaving Winter to glare hotly at his back. She pulled out some lien and tossed it back at the countertop and walked after Qrow, realizing a moment too late that she had seen Qrow paying his bill when she had walked in. She huffed and followed him into the dark streets.

* * *

 **Sorry this took so long to get out. I had a lot of it finished about a week ago, but scrapped it all. It just didn't feel right. Still not super happy with this, but I'm going to get it out. I'm hoping that the next Letter that I'm working on will get me back in the right writing space, and I can get back to the proper** **style** **of the story.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Any thoughts, suggestions,** **ect... Are welcome. Thanks for reading!**

 **-Unjax**


	15. Chapter 15: Dawn

They were gathered in a small room with a semi-circle of plush couches. A false fireplace mock-crackled in the center of the wall opposite them as they sat attentively, waiting for Pyrrha to speak. Ruby could not help but notice the dark circles under the woman's otherwise beautiful eyes. There was a sadness in that face that Ruby wished she could eradicate, and yet she understood it was not her place. She… Wished that she could turn back the arms of the clock to when Pyrrha was simply laughing and watching movies with Jaune, but she had come now. She had already done the damage. Now, all she could do for her friend was do her best to help Pyrrha.

"Jaune had a visitor last night." Next to Ruby, Yang tensed, her hands crushing into fists.

"He did _what?"_ She snarled, and then Pyrrha let out a little laugh.

"No, not like that." Yang settled down, slightly embarrassed.

"You could check your phrasing…"

"Winter Schnee came to see him." The room was quiet for a moment. Ruby stomach churned uneasily. There could be no coincidence. If Winter had come, it was undoubtedly related to Weiss somehow, and even the ghost of anything to do with Weiss brought the abyss back to Ruby. That eternal, empty, _nothing_ that possessed the world without the woman she loved.

"Winter? Why would Winter come to Vale?" Blake mused, simultaneously encouraging the scarlet-haired huntress to continue.

"Have… Have any of you tried to contact Weiss since Ruby's return?"

"Yeah, I sent her a message when we got to Vale. I thought she'd be the first to come over and rip Ruby a new one for going and dying on us." Blake's brow was creasing, already a step ahead of the conversation.

"Jaune said he had tried to get in touch with her too." Yang chirped in. The burden on Pyrrha's shoulders seemed to get heavier when she heard that. Apparently, he had not felt the need to share that with her. "He figured if anyone could, she could make sense of this."

"Well, we know why she didn't answer." Pyrrha gave a tight smile.

"Winter was searching for her missing sister, wasn't she?" Blake's suspicion was confirmed by a sharp nod from Pyrrha.

"But why would she come to your apartment?" Yang asked. "Wouldn't it make more sense for her to be over in Atlas or something? She's been there for years… I can't imagine why she'd come back to Vale."

"She was tracking Weiss scroll." Pyrrha said with a long sigh. "Apparently it showed up around our apartment recently, and knowing us to be friends of hers from Beacon, Winter immediately assumed she had come to visit us."

"But why would she go to your-"

"Ruby?" Blake interrupted Yang, giving the younger woman a cold stare.

Everyone turned to look at her. Ruby wanted to fade into the shadows. Weiss was missing.

She was _missing_.

Not Weiss… No, Ruby had to be able to find her. She _had_ to see her partner again.

"I…" Ruby struggled with the words. It was the one thing Weiss had asked of her. Don't tell them, it would be simpler that way. But if Weiss was missing… She had asked Ruby to forget her. To remember what they had been, not allow her to be a hindrance on her new life. Ruby couldn't afford to listen to her.

"I… " Deep breath. The air filled her lungs as she closed her eyes, trying to restrain the veritable hurricane of emotions screaming inside of her. She breathed it out, tried to relax, regained her composure. "There's something I don't think any of you ever knew."

She took a moment. No one had ever known. Ruby could imagine herself in this position, years ago, bubbling with excitement, wanting to proclaim to the world that she and Weiss were so much more than just partners, but keeping quiet for Weiss' sake. Because she had been asked to. But no longer.

"Weiss and I… We were in love."

Ruby squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't even bear to look at her friends' reactions. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't keep it together.

The years of fear and pain… Perhaps she couldn't remember the dates or the events, but it was all there. She felt it all. All the love for Weiss, the pain of her slowly being ripped away, the fear that those beautiful blue eyes would harden into ice once more, the incomparable warmth and joy of seeing her face, of touching her, the blooming of butterflies in her stomach as soft lips met, trembling in excited anxiety, passionately, without restraint or refrain and-

A sob wracked her body. She couldn't stop it as a tear slid out of her eye and down her face. She couldn't hold it back anymore. She needed Weiss right now. Amidst the confusion, the anonymity, the twisted and incomprehensible labyrinth of her new existence, she needed Weiss. She needed her so much right now. Just a touch. Just a hand holding hers as she ate ice cream contentedly on a Friday night with not a care in the world and no preoccupation but the sheer, invincible happiness that accompanied existence with Weiss by her side.

She covered her face. Not in shame for coming out to her friends, but in fear. Fear of a life where she would never again see _her…_

Why wasn't she here?

Suddenly there was a warm embrace around her. The smell of a warm summer breeze drifting through fields of tall grass washed over Ruby, offering a reprieve from the hell of her mind. It wasn't Weiss. It wasn't what her heart ached for, but there was a familiar comfort to it.

Ruby reached around and hugged Yang back, letting the sobs ravage her frame as the tidal wave of pain crashed and washed her into the infinite sea. She clung to Yang as a the dying did to their loved ones. It could not save them, could not give them what their existence so eagerly craved.

But it was comforting. It was a measure of salvation in oblivion.

"Shh," Yang whispered in her ear, rubbing small circles in her back. Ruby hugged her harder as the storm inside her swelled and crashed in time to the waves. The continuity of life broke, and Ruby knew not how long she stayed like that, desperately holding her last life-line. Eventually though, she regained her composure. The tears slowly dried, the sobs devolved into slight _hics_.

When Yang finally pulled away, though not without one final squeeze, and Ruby opened her eyes, she saw smiling faces. She almost laughed. Blake squeezed her hand and Pyrrha came forward to give her a quick hug.

She wondered if she could tell them what their support meant in some way, but she trusted they knew. This is what her team always was.

Ruby reached into her pocket and withdrew the scroll Weiss had left to her, the heiress' own. She lay it before them as the little green light blinked away at them; there was still an unread letter.

"I don't know what's happening any more than you do. When I woke up though, Weiss had left this scroll for me. There… Was a letter on it. It wasn't very clear and it didn't make much sense, but it told me how to find Pyrrha and Jaune's apartment." Ruby took a deep breath. "She said you would help me get back on my feet." Pyrrha gave her a bright smile.

"Of course we would."

"But… She keeps talking about how she was a burden to me." Ruby couldn't help the tremble that crept into her voice. "She… She said she didn't want to interfere with my life anymore, that this time it was mine to live."

"And now she's missing," Blake finished gravely. Nothing more was said, nothing else had to be. None of them were particularly dense, they all knew the possibilities.

"We'll find her." It was Yang. Ruby smiled at her, thin, but grateful. "We're not going to let this be the worst break up ever, of all time." Yang beamed at her, as she always did when the world turned grey, igniting the light once more. Ruby hugged her again, and got a strong squeeze in return.

"You have a new message," Pyrrha observed, looking at the little green light blinking away incessantly. "I assume they're… somewhat private. I think it's best if we give Ruby some space." Ruby nodded gratefully to Pyrrha. The other huntress all filed out of the room, Yang last. She stopped on her way out the door.

"I'll see you in the morning Rubes." Yang said, smiling brightly at her.

* * *

 ****

 _Rose:_

 _This is a letter I've been dreading to write. I've wanted to focus on the good times. I want you to remember the beauty of what we had, but I can hardly deny the pain and torment I introduced to us. It is not something for which I am proud, yet I owe it to you to speak the truth, the whole truth._

 _The day I left, and the day you did._

 _I…_

 _I'm glad that these scrolls do not remember the stain of tears. Funny that, I thought I had none left to give._

 _We had been fighting. Our paradise was coming to an end. You, you helplessly hopeful fool, were trying to save me. You never gave up. And I hated you for it, or at least, that was what I thought. More than anything, I hated myself. I hated who I was becoming, hated that the devil was welcoming into his cold embrace, and I was going willingly. I did not understand what was happening. I was confused, terrified, looking for help, and cutting down that which was offered._

 _I told you I hated you. I screamed it at you even as I collapsed, sobbing in your arms. And you would hold me, comfort me, as the pain came back out. I cannot help but feel I was a poisoned fruit. You saw me, and the beauty of me, and you gave me everything. You showed me the world, the mountain valleys and the lush forestry of the land. You showed me creation's beauty._

 _You asked me to come with you to live there forever. Escape from the mechanical clockwork world I was headed for. But I could not give up. I thought it was my lot in life, thought I hadn't a choice. I thought that, at the end of everything, you and I could never be together. Someday, I would be alone behind a desk, a mask pretending to be who I had once been with you. You would go back to your paradise, without me, enjoying the unadulterated beauty of it all._

 _It had been happening for months. I remember the first time I thought I had lost you. I thought you were already gone, for all intents and purposes. You were horrified at the notion that you would ever leave me. You said you never could, and so long as your breaths held true, I suppose you were right._

 _I had not hunted in almost a year when you came to my office. It is a somewhat foreign place. It holds platinum and marble, beautifully constructed most would say. But it had not the organic beauty of the world you saw. My garden is more beautiful, even now, as dead and dried as it is._

 _You came with one last attempt to save me. You pleaded. You appealed to my love for you, that I come with you, if for no other reason than to be with you. You were treating the slaughtering of monsters as though it were a vacation. And I suppose that if a vacation is to escape the cold world in favor of some form of happiness, you would perhaps be right. I did miss hunting. Few things had ever felt right in my life, and truly I believe it to only be two. The time I spent in your arms, and when I was out destroying the Grimm. Arguably, I was best at the latter._

 _But I could not go. Something I thought was so important had come up. I could not say what it is anymore. I had told you I would accompany you on your next outing, but whatever it had been, I thought it was too important to pass up. You pleaded with me to ignore work, and at the time the notion seemed so absurd to me. The time I spent with you was salvation, but it must be second to my true reason in life, working for the SDC. A man-made creation with no inherent worth._

 _I pity the fool who believes that, and there has been no bigger fool than I. I… I guess in someway I should be thankful. That I've realized it._

 _When you came to me, I told you to leave. I told you that I could not afford this childish dream of being a huntress. But was it not more childish to submit myself to this fate I had chosen? To lie down, to cowardly hide? One of the greatest ironies, I believe, is that those trying to play at being adults and socially responsible are those who have never progressed to the point where they can think for themselves. They roll over, and do what they are told._

 _All the training to become a huntress I underwent… One would have thought it had taught me better. The paragons of virtue… It makes sense why I was never suited to be one, not in the ways it mattered. I could kill the Grimm - I was very adept at that - but in the ways of the heart and mind of a huntress, I was lost._

 _Much of that day was spent arguing. Senseless arguments. You were almost in tears more than once. I hated myself for making you cry, but I could not care for my compassion. I was so broken already…_

 _I'll never forget the last words you spoke to me, when your silver eyes were downcast and you were halfway through the door. You asked if you would see me when you returned. I didn't answer._

 _Dust, I couldn't even answer that. Of course I wanted to see you when you came back from the hunt. Obviously, you would be alive and well. You would never be killed by something so trivial as the Grimm. You would come back, and then we could talk and think and waste all the time in the world._

 _But the time was up._

 _That was the day I left. That was when I told you, without a world, that I didn't not think I belonged in the world you had opened my eyes to._

 _And now, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you about the day that you left._

 _The day you died._

 _I… I still have issues with remembering it. It… I…_

 _The world without you, Rose… It was barren. I have wandered deserts, but even they could ill be likened to the void of dust that consumed my life, if one would even call it that. My very soul… It…_

 _I'm sorry,_

 _I can't do it…_

 _Even now. Even as close as I have come to kissing that sweet phantom who stole you so long ago, I cannot bear to face that day, the darkest of my life. I would prefer to lie my body down, still and quiet, forever more than to breathe in the faintest wisp of that memory. I very nearly did. I suppose I very nearly am._

 _And now it is a deal with the devil I make. I just hope I can find my soul to sell Him before the time comes._

 _I'm…_

 _I'm so sorry Rose._

 _I-_

…

-Weiss Schnee

* * *

"That… That was good, Yang." Blake commented, a little dryly and a little warmly, as she leaned back against the wall of her headboard, across from Yang's own bed. That was by Yang's request, though she had asked that Blake not tell Pyrrha or Ruby. There were only two rooms, each with two beds. Blake supposed the pain was too fresh for Yang to see her little sister for the full night… But the way Yang had just acted…

It was like she was before. The bright, cheery, sunny woman that brought the summer to the coldest days of winter. The same one who had picked them up, Weiss, Ruby, Blake, a thousand times and dusted them off, cheered them up. When Blake stumbled, that woman had always been there to catch her fall.

The same woman Blake had been so sure had died. She was still alive. Buried under years of self-hate, pain, and fear. There nonetheless.

"I…" Yang trailed off. She looked like she had just been dropped off a mountain. Shock and pain made her blanche.

Blake got up and walked over to Yang's bed. She was hesitant, the sting of their fallout so recently still cut deep, but Yang needed someone right now. She was trying to keep the shattered remnants of her being together for her sister, and she needed help.

Blake sat down beside Yang, put her hand over her ex-partners. There was an intimacy to the touch, the kind that had been left unspoken for years before Ruby's death. The kind that neither of them had ever spoken of. It was an understanding, of sorts.

"I'm sorry," Yang whispered, her golden locks cascading around her face, hiding its beauty in shadows. Blake squeezed her hand a little. "You followed me. When I went. You came after me to try and save me, and I just spat in your face. I… Why did you come?"

Blake didn't answer, she just squeezed Yang's hand a little.

"It's hard." Yang murmured, to no one in particular. "Trying to be alive again."

"The world's hard, but every once in awhile, you get a glimpse. And that makes it worth it."

"A glimpse… I don't know if I can see those anymore. Everything just… It's all so bleak Blake. Even now… I want to comfort her. I want to make sure she doesn't hurt, but I know I can't protect her. Not forever. Even if it's not the Grimm, someday…"

 _Even the brightest lights flicker, and eventually fade._ Blake thought morosely. She thought of the flames she herself had snuffed out. She knew, had been acutely aware, that someday it would be her time. Someday, she would pay for the sins she had worked so long to redeem. She would accept it when it came.

But when she thought of losing others? When Ruby had gone, _dust,_ even seeing Yang waste away as she had… Blake couldn't help but mirror the despair she saw in those lilac irises.

"I know," Blake whispered back.

"Then what's the point?"

"I don't know."

An uncomfortable silence.

"But we have to try." Blake finally added. "I have to try and make up for what I've done… I owe it to everyone I've wronged."

"How do you know when you've reached it?"

"Reached what?"

"The point of forgiveness. Or redemption, or whatever. How do you know you're there? How do we know when we can stop?"

"I don't know if we ever actually can. But, I'm hoping that someday I'll wake up and know I've done all I can. I hope it just all makes sense someday."

"Yeah…"

Blake gave Yang one more comforting squeeze on her hand, then got up.

"Blake?" She turned to face the blonde. "Thanks," Blake just smiled.

"I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

 **Aaaand we're back on track!**

 **Short letter, I know. But I think you can understand why Weiss wouldn't be able to finish it. The next one should be more akin to the first few. I think you can also see why I saved the letter until after we started to see the fallout between Jaune and Pyrrha as well as the pain that Ruby's death caused them. I wanted to save this one until after we had a good understand of what it had done to everyone else. I think it makes it easier to imagine where Weiss must have been after.**

 **Super excited for the reunion with Qrow that will eventually pop up. Also enjoying the interactions between Blake and Yang. This whole story is a bit more explicit in its thematic content than I had originally intended, but I'm kind of liking it. For Yang's planned character arc, this conversation kind of needs to happen.**

 **Also thanks to everyone who's been supporting this! So long as you're all reading, I'll do my best to keep writing. Classes are getting rough, but I'll keep trying to make time for y'all!**

 **Cheers,**

 **-Unjax**


	16. Chapter 16: Spark

Ruby took a deep breath, filling into line between the others as they prepared to leave the airship. Back in Vale. As strange as it was, the hunt had been a welcome distraction. She hadn't needed to think about the fact that she was alive. She just had to live, and do everything she could to keep on living. There was a sort of blissful peace to fighting for one's life.

But now she was back. And Weiss was missing.

She wasn't there.

Ruby had to find her.

There was a hissing as the doors unlocked, and steam billowed out from around the latch of the airship. The door lowered from hinges at its bottom, acting as a ramp. Blake was the first out, and Ruby was the last. She blinked as she stepped out of the shadow into the glaring sunlight, squinting as her eyes adjusted and watered a little.

"You never call anymore." A gravelly voice spoke behind her, and Ruby stilled. Then she grinned. She spun around and launched herself at the man who was standing, leaning against the airship, grinning cockily.

"Qrow!" She squealed excitedly as she crashed into him.

Qrow caught her hug and spun her around. Before setting her down. Ruby bounced up and down on her tiptoes, hands clasped in front of her.

"How are you doing? How's it been? I'm so glad you're here! How did you know I was around? Oh! Have you met any pretty girls? Do you have any more stori-"

"I know everything," Qrow cut her off by putting his index finger across her lip. "You should know that by now little red." He looked up at the rest of the party behind them, and Ruby turned. Blake and Pyrrha were smiling lightly, but Yang had her head bowed and was avoiding Qrow's gaze.

"Don't worry Yang, haven't forgotten about you either." Qrow reached into his back pocket and withdrew a flask, similar to his ornate silver one, but with golden flames on it. "Heard you were carrying on the legacy, thought you'd earned this." He tossed it, and Yang caught it reflexively, although it looked like she had just watched someone get shot. Ruby looked between the two of them.

"What are you talking about? Yang doesn't drink."

"Qrow," It was Blake, her voice low. Almost a growl. Qrow leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her.

There was a tense silence.

It was the middle of the day, but Ruby couldn't help but feel like it was the middle of the night. There were things here, unsaid and dangerous.

"Huh, looks like everyone's going to be having some long talks." He pulled out his own flask, and threw back a hefty swig. "But I didn't just come to see you again Ruby. I had a nice little visit from Winter Schnee the other night."

"As did Jaune," Pyrrha offered politely. Qrow just narrowed his eyes at her.

"So he did. Anyway, she said that Weiss' scroll was somewhere around the redhead's apartment. Which is funny, because the little icicle's been missing for a while now. Any ideas where I might find it?"

"Umm," Ruby scratched the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, I-um, I have it."

Qrow looked at her, cocking his head at a slight angle. It was a habit of his that Ruby had been acutely familiar with since she was a child. Then, she thought it was funny because it made him look like a bird. Now though, she knew it was more contemplative.

"And why would you have it?"

"She and I… She left it for me when I woke up." Ruby spluttered, hardly able to get anything coherent out.

"When you woke up… Huh." Qrow scratched the thin shadow of his beard, but his scarlet eyes still pierced Ruby. She knew she couldn't hide the pain from him. "I think you should give me the scroll for the day. Winter's offered to volunteer her help, and she can run some diagnostics on it. Give us some clue where Weiss might have been recently."

She fished the tablet out of her pocket and held it out to him, but even as he grasped it, she did not release. This was the last piece of Weiss she had. Those letters were the only concrete memory she had of the woman she loved. She trusted Qrow, he had been by her side since the day she had been born, but to give this up…

* * *

Qrow could see it in her eyes. The way she offered the scroll gingerly, as if it would shatter at any moment, was almost as revealing as the weary, cracked and broken fragments of her now icy irises. He knew that grief. He was so familiar with that pain. Each and every day, it tore his heart to shreds. Worse than the pain though, was the fear. Ruby was a vole caught in the talons of a hawk. She looked like she couldn't decide between bolting and freezing. The fear would be paralytic.

He remembered that fear. One could not forget it.

Those few days where they didn't know, all those years ago, when Qrow had torn the country apart to search of her. Nary a rock had been left unturned for leagues around Vale. He had charged into the deepest forests, the darkest tunnels, the hellish wastelands between the kingdoms searching, always searching. He had been driven by the hope that he was wrong. But the fear was there, every night.

Every night, even as he destroyed the shadows of the world, those of his mind would snake their icy tendrils through him.

Every night, he had sobbed like a lost child. Because he was. Years of experience with the worst the world had to offer was no preparation for that kind of loss. The abhorrent acts he had born witness to, innocents slaughtered in broad daylight, towns razed and burned, and they all paled in comparison to that injustice with which he had been slighted. It wasn't enough that he had to watch her love another. It wasn't enough that it was his best friend, and he had no choice but to smile and laugh alongside them. Then, the world had to take her away, leaving nothing but the broken remnants of those who loved her, and two small, terrified children.

And then… When he had found her…

Losing Summer had broken something deep inside him. Some fundamental part of his heart snapped that day, and could never be repaired. That fear and pain never left. Their hounds nipped at his heels every day, and those few times he lowered his guard, they tore into his heart. The only difference, is that there was no more hope. The shadows had come, and the light was gone. The best he could do was to try and forget it. He had seen Yang wandering down the twisted and revolting path he himself had been on, and as much as he wished to help her, he knew not how.

And looking at Ruby now, he saw another on the brink of falling to that abyss. The perpetual gut-wrenching loneliness and the ice that crept through the skin every night. That feeling of being sick even when your body was perfectly well. Knowing that no matter how bright the day got, it would always be the twilight where the shadows were longest and not even the stars shone down. When the moon was shattered and the sun forgotten.

Ruby looked so much like her. Like the woman that Qrow knew he loved. He wished he could trade places with her, even now. She had children, and while Qrow had done his best to guard over them and save them, he was too weak to provide salvation from themselves. He never had her strength. He had failed with Yang. She was twisted and ruined, just as he was.

But Ruby… He could save her.

She needn't have said a word. Qrow could see the depths of her love for Weiss in those eyes. His nieces had already lost too much. He would not let the last ray of light die in her.

He brought Ruby close and hugged her tight. He could feel her shivering. She would not be sobbing. Tears were cathartic, and nothing could alleviate her suffering now. Nothing but the touch of the woman she loved.

"Hey, it's alright." Qrow whispered fiercely, a fire igniting deep inside him that had been snuffed out eons ago. Something he thought he had lost forevermore. "I'm going to bring her back to you."

Ruby hugged him tighter, and Qrow ran his hand over her head comfortingly. They stayed like that a long time.

She leaned back and held out the scroll. Qrow pocketed it, and tried to give her a reassuring grin. But now was not the time for smiles. There was a steel resolve in him now. Here, he would not fail.

He strode over to Yang, looking between her and the faunus. Blake, if his memory, impaired as it usually was, served. He could see the fire in her eyes, and she practically bristled. The flask had been offensive. He studied Yang's lavender eyes carefully, and something caught his eye. There was hope in there. He looked back to Blake as he began to walk past her.

"Take care of her. Save her, if you can." He whispered, quietly enough that only her faunus ears would ever hear. He got a twitch of them in acknowledgement. Maybe Yang wasn't lost quite yet either. He shouldn't be surprised. Both Yang and Ruby were strong. Stronger than he'd ever been.

He couldn't save Summer. He couldn't bring her back.

But he could save her daughter, just maybe. If he was lucky. And though it would never be enough to pull him back from his hell, it might be enough to help him bear the rest of his life with some vestige of peace.

* * *

 **Short chapter here. I've been having a lot of issues writing lately, and I'm sure it shows. Everything's not coming out quite right. I may take a bit of a break before the next chapter, just to let myself mentally reset.**

 **Anyways, here's a little insight to Qrow. He's going to serve as an interesting character I think. As I'm sure you're starting to notice, there's heavy imagery of dark and light in this story. Q** **row's someone who's resigned himself to the shadows. He doesn't believe there's any way for him to be happy again. But he's still fighting to help others achieve that.**

 **There is a very important chapter coming up. That's why I want to take a break. There's just a few big things coming, and I want to do them justice.**

 **Sorry for the quality this time round. Hope you enjoyed anyways.**

 **-Unjax**


	17. Chapter 17: And We Will Walk Again

It was quiet.

The stillness of the apartment was suffocating. Jaune was in his room, Yang had returned to the hotel, and Pyrrha and Ruby were perfectly still. Blake could hear each breath snake into each of their lungs, pause for a moment, and then get squeezed out. She was hyper aware of her own breathing, and she could vividly imagine that if she breathed out, the air would never return.

Since Qrow had left with the scroll, the world had been a strange sort of purgatory. Nothing moved. No one spoke.

Shifting her attention from the whisper-like breathing, Blake began to listen closely to her own pulse. The funny thing about having two sets of ears is that she could listen to the blood in one set of extremities with the other.

At some point, she would have to admit the crippling worry for her teammate that was gnawing away at her insides, but for now, she ignored the world. She stayed still, alongside it, and waited.

The waiting was the worst part. As of now, nothing could be done.

So she sat, and she listened.

She listened to nothing.

Because it was quiet.

The cyclicity of it nauseating.

Or maybe she just felt sick.

She closed her eyes and focused, seeing if she could hear Ruby and Pyrrha's hearts, but her attention kept getting drawn back to their breath. In, out, in, out…

The urge to hit something flared up in her, but she forced it back down, nothing more than a quick tense giving her away. Ruby and Pyrrha's eyes snapped to her, but it had not been the first time one of them had made a minute movement, and their attention faded away, inwards, back to their worries.

The table in the middle of the room, a crystal top on oaken legs, held three crystal glasses full of water. Blake could see the bright reflection of the moon on their long since stilled surfaces. When she had sat down, they had been reflecting the sun.

"We should go to bed." Blake winced as she spoke, Ruby jumped. Her own words seemed to be a cacophony after the hours of silence.

"But when Qrow-"

"When Qrow comes back, we will be here.." Blake cut Pyrrha off. "He may not be back for days. When he arrives, we should be rested."

She made eye contact with Pyrrha, and she could see the edge of fear in them. Pyrrha was not just waiting to hear of Weiss, she was avoiding going to her room, where Jaune slept. There was a storm brewing. Blake could hear it in every breath. Here, they waited, before the storm, but not without the pain.

The two stood, leaving Ruby where she was. Blake left through the door, and Pyrrha returned to her room. The night air was brisk and cold, nipping at her skin, but she hardly noticed it.

Blake had a feeling Ruby would not be able to rest, even if she wanted to. To wake up and find out she had been dead, and then told her lover was missing…

Blake did not understand her pain, but she could sympathize. The state of her fragile mind now rested in the hands of fate, or whichever one Weiss had crafted.

There was no guarantee that Weiss was alright, either. All her days, Blake had seen the consequences of actions. The oppression of the faunus leading to their violent uprising, leading to fear, leading to hate, leading to slavery, dehumanization, more fear… The cyclic futility of being a faunus was not lost on her, but it was the actions of the involved parties that had led to the world in which she lived.

As a child, she had been taught that to live, she may have to kill. Life and death, equal prices.

Ruby had been dead.

Now, she was alive.

There were things in the world that Blake hardly understood, and this almost mystical act led to larger questions than Blake had ever thought she would have to confront. She knew she would die someday. It was inevitable. It was a fact of life. There was no changing it…

But Weiss had changed it somehow. Typical of the heiress to scatter the rules and forge her own, defying reason, defying the very foundations of the world. Blake was left scrambling, chasing invisible scraps of the rules, trying to catch one and understand it. But whatever new world Weiss had moulded to bring Ruby back - for Blake had little doubt this was all the heiress' doing - was shrouded in darkness and mysteries.

These thoughts did her little good. Perhaps someday she might understand what had happened here. For now, she was blind. Rationality had broken down, and when reason was gone, they had nothing left to guide them but their hearts. So until they figured all of this out, that's exactly what she would follow.

Blake found her hand upon a door, and looked up to see herself outside of Yang's hotel, about to enter.

"Oh," She said dumbly.

* * *

Ruby numbly heard Blake say something, but without hearing Weiss' name, she lost interest, returning to the cloudy haze that had muddled her mind all day. She was vaguely aware she was alone now. In truth, she had been all day. Blake and Pyrrha had been by her side, but none of them had been there for one another. Each had their worries, each had their fears. They were no more together than Ruby and Weiss right now.

Ruby stood, a thought entering her mind. Something vague and only half-complete. She walked over to the corner of the room where Crescent Rose was standing at an odd slant against the wall. She was intimately familiar with the tool - and it was a tool, not a weapon. Qrow had once told her why he chose the scythe rather than more traditional weapons.

A sword had been designed as a weapon. They hurt people, they were designed for humans. Wars were not as uncommon as one might expect in Remnant, what with the constant threat of the grimm, and one thing people excelled at was learning how to hurt each other.

A scythe, though, was a farmer's tool. It was used to nurture the earth and civilization. It cut down wheat, certainly, but that death allowed for the growth of mankind throughout the world. No one would deny the humble origins of a scythe. It was unwieldy, it was perhaps not the most practical tool, but it was functional. She destroyed the grimm, cut them down like stalks of wheat, and in their absence, civilization could flourish. It was the fundamental reason for huntresses to exist.

Even when Qrow had come back one day, after Summer had gone, with his scythe now able to transform into a sword and advising Ruby to do the same, she had refused. She knew not all people were good, but she refused to accept the vulgar tool that was designed purely as the most efficient form of murdering others. She wished to offer salvation, not destruction.

She had added a gun though.

That was just because sniper rifles were _awesome!_

She found herself sitting once more, Crescent Rose lain across her lap. She pressed the button that extended the scythe down halfway, and then slid a into its hole halfway down the button. It would hold it in that position, allowing Ruby to manipulate the limbs of the tool without the pistons extending it forcibly. She swung the blade open, examining the smooth edge of the blade, noting how a few spots of brown rust colored the otherwise pure silver. She caught a reflection of her eye in the polished surface, but quickly looked away.

She grabbed a whetstone from Crescent Rose's case first, running it over the blade to hone the edge and scrape off the residual rust. The movement was calming, allowing Ruby to lose her mind in the repetitive work. She made sure to get the inside as well as the outer edges of the twin blades that ran down the length of Crescent Rose.

Next she checked the hinges, collapsing and re-extending the blade, focusing on each joint's movement, pinpointing the creakiest and slowest parts of it. On the hunt earlier, she had not tried to extended it into its war-scythe setting, and was now glad she hadn't. The joints had not been oiled in years, and had they tried to fully extend, they may well have jammed.

For ease of access during field repairs, huntsmen and huntresses used special bolts that one could pull outwards, twist, and then push back in to make them pop off. Performing this down the length of the blade, Ruby disassembled Crescent Rose, checking each piece as it came off. The paint had warded off most of the rust that wasn't on the actual blade, and Ruby figured she may have to replace the steel sometime if the oxidization spread too far, but for now it didn't seem too damning. She pulled out a rag and some oil, coating the sections of her scythe that the bolts slid into with a thin layer of grease. She repeated the process on the bolts themselves, and then wiped off the excess. Before sliding the scythe together again, leaving the extended arm unattached from the snaith.

She checked the various widgets and gears housed within the main body of Crescent Rose, but they seemed to have all held up well to the wear and tear of time. Without use, the coatings of the gears hadn't worn down and so no rust had appeared. A little more oil, and the scythe was ready to be reattached.

Next, she came to the part that had failed her during the hunt. The gun had jammed, something uncommon amongst hunters. She should have thought to checked over Crescent Rose before leaving, but had been so caught up in the excitement of a hunt that she had completely forgotten. It had not been fatal this time, but in the future, such a mistake could cost her her life.

Again.

Ruby hissed as her finger's skin opened up, having slipped onto the blade due to her distraction. She cursed, sucking the sanguine liquid trickling out into her mouth, tasting the coppery tang. She briefly wondered how much of it she had lost when she had died. She wondered where this blood had come from.

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Ruby returned to the task. She disassembled the rifle, checking the barrel first, though she figured the issue wouldn't be there. It would be closer to the base, probably the trigger itself.

Assured that the barrel was fine, she cleaned it quickly, then set it aside. The trigger seemed to be functioning perfectly well, so Ruby turned her attention to the hammer. Looking at it, she found a bunch of dust clogging up the mechanism. She frowned as she looked at it, noticing how different hues were mixed together. It looked like she had been using ice dust when she had fought the death stalkers, and after her death, it had begun to recrystallize. When she had shot with the red round, the hammer got stuck on the solid icy mass, restricting its movement.

Ruby snapped off the ice, holding the crystal in front of her. She pulsed her aura, and it shattered.

* * *

"Hey kiddo," A rough voice sounded through the fields of thorns that blanketed her dreams, and Ruby blinked, eyes opening to find herself slumped awkwardly in the couch with a half assembled Crescent Rose sitting on her lap. Shaking her shoulder was Qrow, grey clothes blending in with the early twilight shades outside. _Wait…_ The window in her room faced west. It was the evening already.

He held a scroll out to her. Ruby took it gratefully, one of the infinite knots in her stomach releasing.

Behind him Pyrrha, Blake and Yang stood in a semi-circle. They had let her sleep as long as possible. Jaune was not with them.

"Winter used a bunch of technical words, but it basically sums up to this: Those letters you've been getting were pre-written." Qrow sat down beside her with a heavy sigh, hands clasped in front of him as though he were praying and head bowed. She could see the shame in his shoulders. "Ruby… I'm sorry, but-"

"We don't know anything yet." Yang interrupted, cutting her uncle off and stepping forward. Blake put her hand on her partner's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "What else was there."

Qrow looked up to meet his nieces eyes, and Ruby wanted to cry. She could see him holding back on finishing what he was going to say. Ruby could feel the tears stinging her eyes as the room's silent consensus finally settled in. No one would dare say it though. They all held onto the hope that they were wrong, because the alternative was too horrifying.

"There was almost nothing left on the scroll. It's been wiped almost completely. No business deals, no messages, no call histories… All we could find were the letters already on there, and a few of the scroll's extraneous data. Things that aren't generally accessible. And the unreleased letters are highly encrypted. Maybe if we had a few weeks or months we could crack it, but by then, I get the feeling…

"Weiss spent most of her time at the SDC according to the scroll's tracking history. She made a two week long trip six months before Ruby returned, but other than that just a few infrequent visits to various restaurants, probably for client meetings. There were a few other… Unsavoury locations. I don't know if that's too far back to mean anything. Even if it's not then it means there's probably more further back we missed, but we could only go that far back. The memories on the scrolls aren't great, and by all rights it shouldn't even have stored that data. That's what Winter said anyways…

"The trip," Ruby mumbled, trying to fight back the waves of fear and anxiety crashing over her. "Where was it." Qrow shrugged.

"Dunno. I don't even know if was a trip actually. Her scroll just went dark for two weeks, turned off or left behind. We don't have a location."

"What about the… Unsavoury places?" Yang piped up. "What are we talking about?"

"Seems that the snowflake was getting lonely. A couple adult clubs here in Vale, that's it."

"What?" Ruby asked, quaking minutely.

"Look, I know she meant a lot to you, but the truth is that after a certain amount of time… People can't always be virtuous." Qrow said with a shrug.

"No!" Ruby said, the slightest of smiles curling her lip. "Weiss wouldn't ever go to a place like that. She hated anything like that. There _has_ to be something about it."

Qrow looked at her doubtfully. Ruby watched as he turned to look to the rest of the gathered party for support. Yang was biting her lip the way she did when she was nervous, and Blake's eyes were cast at the ground.

"Ruby," Yang walked forward quietly. "Weiss is a good person. I know it, but even the best of us…" She trailed off for a moment, a tear in her eye that Ruby didn't understand. "Sometimes people lose it Ruby. They lose their way. Grief and pain are the worst demons, and they can drive someone to do things they never would otherwise…"

"Yang," Ruby begged, looking up at her older sister's lilac eyes, her shining hair, her glowing skin… Warm arms wrapped around her, and Ruby buried her face into her sister's shoulder. The same shoulder she had cried on the day Summer died. The same shoulder she had hugged every time she had a nightmare or someone was mean to her at school. She had known Yang her whole life, and Ruby couldn't think of a time when Yang had ever faltered. She knew that even if the world came crashing down, Yang would stand proud and strong.

Right now though, she was wrong.

Yang, of all people should understand. If she could stand so strong all the time, how could she think Weiss wouldn't?

"You don't have to come with me," Ruby growled, a determined steel the foundation of her voice. "But I'm going."

"And what?" Blake asked, but not discouragingly. She just wanted the plan.

"I don't know. I'll talk to people, ask if they've seen her. Someone has to recognize her, right?" Ruby urged, the fire of hope igniting deep inside her.

"Alright," Jaune said with a silly grin, walking up and grabbing Pyrrha's hand. "Who wants to go to a strip club?"

There was a chorus of agreements, though Ruby caught a nervous look between Yang and Blake. Everyone began filing out to their respective rooms to get ready. When everyone else had gone and only Qrow remained, he took a deep breath and turned to Ruby.

"Look kid, even if we find anything, there's still a serious chance that-"

"I know." Ruby held up her hand and smiled at him. He was just trying to be realistic, but she already knew.

The thought terrified her. It made her want to crawl into a ball and fall back into whatever abyss she had come from. It made her insides squirm as if a thousand bugs were nibbling on her insides. It didn't matter though. There was a chance that Ruby could see Weiss, and she would give anything for that. If it cost her her life over again, she wouldn't mind. All that mattered was Weiss.

Even if Weiss was probably dead.

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _No.1: BUZZ BUZZ_

 _Ahem, excuse the outburst. I've had a few inquiries pertaining to the pairings in the story… Most of them were obvious right away, but redemption and resilience are two huge themes in this. I'll leave it at that._

 _I also feel like I've neglected my audience somewhat, so I'll try and answer some common questions that don't involve spoilers to make up for the long wait. Also, anyone still reading, you're awesome and I appreciate it so much!_

 _. First, Warden of Lore pointed out that Ruby is a white walker. That was somewhat of an inside joke for me as I wrote, and I love that it got pointed out. Ruby's eyes are significant, but white walkers are what gave me the idea initially._

 _Next, I love the theories. I wasn't expecting people to be scrambling to figure it out so fast, and most of the hints I've dropped have been picked up. There are a few things no one's brought up quite yet, but all will be revealed in time…_

 _Also, Cipher and Clown, are you the same person O.o (honestly, do you say things outside of interesting? Lolol XD)_

 _Concerning Crescent Rose: Initially there were plans to modify the design to reflect how Ruby has changed. I have scrapped that idea, as all the thematic work I needed for Crescent Rose I did in this chapter. I know, cleaning isn't entirely interesting to read, but there's meaning to it._

 _The flashback during the fight: Think PTSD. Ruby did die after all…_

 _Winter and Qrow involvement: They filled roles that were initially going to be OC's. I'm really glad I got to use them, as it saved me work and I really hate using OC's._

 _Ruby's age: I hope I answered this in the first two chapters, but I will prevent answering because watching people run amok with different theories is fun and this is a key point for some of them XD_

 _Again, I want to thank all of you. Writing this has pushed me to grow in so many ways as an author. The monologues, letters, interactions… This chapter was not particularly poetic, but the other day I went back and read chapters 5 and 10 (my personal faves, aside from the letters) and then reread some of By Year's End and… Whoo. Big difference. And it's really thanks to this community. So thank you all._

 _I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and if it wasn't, well, I should be making up for it in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading!_

 _Cheers,_

 _Unjax_


	18. Chapter 18: Skin Deep

There was a certain mystery to stars, Ruby thought. They were beautiful. Poems were written about them. Songs were sung. They were such a fundamental part of the world in which she lived, but even as she tried to reach out at them, she could not touch them.

Some things in this world, she mused, simply could not be reached.

The club was hot and sweaty. Weiss had never been partial to places such as that, and honestly, neither had Ruby. She didn't hate it, but she certainly didn't enjoy it. It was why she had come outside, even though the others were inside, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, asking around…

Qrow was the only one treating it like a night on the town. Ruby wasn't surprised.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

Ruby started. It sounded _almost_ like her. The slight pauses between words, the melodious undertone. Of course, it wasn't Weiss. Just Winter, speaking of the stars.

"I got to know them pretty well. Or Weiss taught me a lot about them, anyways." Ruby didn't bother to turn. The Schnees had had enough politeness in their lives, Ruby knew they needed a little disrespect.

"Polaris always leads north." Winter begun, rhyming off a nearly identical phrase to what Weiss had said so long ago. Ruby couldn't help but feel her heart pull at the words. "Then there are Lupine-"

"The wolves. Lupine and Remus. There's a story about them, how they were the first man and faunus…" Ruby cut Winter off, picking up the line of the textbook almost perfectly. "Weiss… Found all those things so easy. She could tell me the name of every star, when it would disappear for six months, and when it would come back. She could tell me which myth each star was associated with. She could tell me all of that."

"Did you find it endearing?"

"No," Ruby sighed. It was hard to explain. "It's like… That's the her she never wanted to be. It was the second skin that she could throw on and peel off without blinking. It was part of who she is - or was, or whatever - but it's not the her I loved."

"Would you like to know something, Ruby Rose?" Winter leaned against the same railing as Ruby, looking into the infinite depths and heights of the sky. Ruby waited for the answer, unrushed. It was peaceful out there. "I couldn't tell you about the wolves. I couldn't tell you about the maidens either. I can tell you the names of the stars in alphabetical order, but I could never tell you why they're beautiful. I can pretend, I can tell you they are, and you might agree, but I will never see them for what they are."

Ruby was silent for a moment.

"Do you think Weiss could?" She wondered aloud. The memories of her lover were still nebulous, vague and unformed. It seemed from her letters that Weiss didn't believe in her own ability to see the beauty of the stars. Like she had lost the ability to wonder and love. Ruby knew it wasn't true though, Weiss had always been scared of that side of her. It had taken Ruby years to coax it out of the heiress, but that didn't mean it hadn't been there all along.

"I think my sister is an exceptional person. I think she is one of the greatest people to walk among us. She has always been more talented by voice, sword, and song of parlay than I. She was the natural choice to be the heiress. However, that pressure hurt her. As much as I believe her to be my superior in almost every field, I was always stronger with my aura than her. I think that says something about her, don't you?"

The answer hung heavily in the air.

"Winter, your semblance… It's hereditary, right?"

"Indeed,"

"Could you do something for me?" Ruby asked, a little nervous.

"If it is within reason, certainly."

"Could… Could you summon a nightingale? Weiss… She used to conjure them up when we would go walking in the woods."

Winter was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry Ruby, but I cannot summon that bird. I have done doves, and even an eagle once. But I have nothing to learn from a nightingale. It's never left an impression on me, and I can no more summon a dove than I could a koi."

"Oh… Sorry for asking then."

Winter said nothing. There was a moment of silence, and then the Schnee left, returning inside. Ruby knew she should too. She should go in and look for the hints that Weiss would have left behind. Talk to managers, ask the frequent visitors…

But she wanted to stay outside for a little while. She hoped that maybe a night bird would come sing for her. She feared she would never hear that song again.

* * *

Yang felt nauseous.

She wanted to go to the washroom and lock herself in a stall. She wanted a drink to numb it all. She wanted a pill to make her happy again.

"So people just… Do this, huh?" Jaune sounded baffled as they looked around the myriad of toned bodies in various states of undress. Most of them were women, though there were a few men with taut muscles slicked with oil. "Can't say I understand why anyone would come to a place like this." He mumbled to himself, but it was like a slap in the face.

The familiar feeling of filth was starting to come over Yang. She wanted to have a hot shower and scald her skin and wash away the residual glitter from when a working girl had brushed past her earlier.

"Jaune and I can go check with the manager and see if they know anything." Pyrrha offered, and Jaune nodded in agreement. The two stood, but Yang hardly noticed. Qrow grumbled something about how he needed more whisky, but Yang's focus was locked on the stage.

The girl who was up there right now had wavy blonde hair. Just like her own. The girl was still decent, but Yang had seen the shows before. Soon things would start coming off, and not long after that, the woman would be completely exposed.

Yang looked down, and thought about puking right there.

"Are you alright?" Blake reached forward to touch Yang's hand reassuringly, but the touch just made Yang feel worse. Blake had done everything right. She had kept moving forward.

Yang, though, had burned her soul to a husk. She had done all of the things she used to think only people she pitied would do. She had been up on that stage in her own way. She had been exposed, let herself be used for others' entertainment. Rather than carrying on her sister's work and making the world better, Yang had given up.

"Yang?"

She realized there was a tear sliding down her face. She hurriedly brushed it away and stood. "I need to go to the washroom." She whispered hoarsely, holding her stomach tightly.

Before Blake could object, she was forcing her way through the crowd of onlookers enjoying the show, hugging herself tightly. They were enjoying the skin of some random woman, nothing but lust for the parts of her they enjoyed so much. She wanted them to look away. She wanted the girl on stage to have different hair.

She never wanted to feel like she was on display again.

"Hey beautiful," A handsome man with a bright smile leered at her, eyes dulled by everyone's favourite poison. He slid his hand along her stomach, exposed as it was by her short jacket. She had felt fingers like that before. She hit them away, backing up as if he had struck her.

She hadn't stopped them last time.

"Sorry," She murmured as she bumped into another girl who turned away from the spectacle. Her eyes lit up when she saw Yang.

"Not a problem at all." Trying to ignore her hungry eyes, Yang stumbled towards the restroom.

She threw the door open, hurried to a stall, ignoring the other women in there, and slammed its door behind her. She hammered the lock shut and sat on the toilet lid, trying to control the trembling.

It was like she was cold and hungry and sick all at once. She cupped a hand over her lip to stop the sobs from escaping, tasting salty tears as they ran down her face. The man in there had called her beautiful, but he was wrong. He was so very, very, wrong.

She was ugly. She was ruined. She was filth and dirt. She was worse than the worms that feasted on corpses. Even the girls up on that stage. They were doing that for money. They were at least doing something.

Yang had no reason.

 _Fuck._

Hand shaking, she reached into the pocket of her jacket, to where the little baggie was. The plastic crinkled as it was thrown about by the erratic movements of her hand. She tore it open to get at the three little pills inside, that she had brought from so far away. One bounced out of its own accord and landed on the floor.

"Fuck!"

She slid the other two out into her open palm and threw them back into her mouth, swallowing as quickly as possible. She was used to doing it.

* * *

"Yeah, I seen someone like her." The fat, oily man stroke his greasy beard in his high backed chair. Pyrrha shifted, somewhat uncomfortable. This place was not enjoyable. She did not like that this man paid women to undress so they could pay next month's rent. She hated that, despite all the things that she did to save the world and make it better, places like this existed. She killed Grimm, but places like this is why they were drawn to the Kingdoms.

Did he not know that he was drawing monsters to their doorstep? Or did her just not care?

"She always came in here late, half hour before closing. Never paid any of the strippers for anything. Just sat at a table with her hood pulled up. Then someone would sit down across from her. They would talk a little. Then she'd go. Or he'd go."

"Who did she talk with?" Jaune's arms were crossed, and he had dropped into an authoritative tone. Something that only came up when he was directing citizens. For all of his antics and his goofy demeanor, Jaune was a strong man. It was times like this that it came out. It was one of the parts of him she loved most.

"Hell if I know. Some shady character. Never seemed to see his face or nothing. Didn't care much. Lot of husbands and wives coming in here that don't want their marriage to fall apart. Concealing clothes aren't uncommon."

"Anything at all?" Pyrrha pushed, hoping for some tangible lead. They had nothing. Absolutely nothing right now.

"He was tall. She was short. Look, I keep my business to myself. I let others do the same. And I don't like it when people try to make my business their business."

"And we appreciate your cooperation." Jaune's voice was getting dark now. Dangerous. Like thunder.

"Look, there's nothing I can say. If you want information, go to Junior." Pyrrha frowned.

"Who?"

"He's the information broker. If you're pretty princess was doing anything fishy in the underworld, he'd know."

"And there's nothing else you can tell us?" Jaune asked. The greasy man looked at him and he laughed, turned to Pyrrha.

"If you're ever short money, I bet you could draw a hell of a profit here."

Jaune exploded forward, and Pyrrha only barely caught him.

" _Jaune._ " She warned, searching her husband's eyes. They were cold and furious, a long way from the warmth she was used to. She had seen too much of that coldness in him lately.

"They find the feisty ones sexy."

"Let's go," Pyrrha urged, holding Jaune's hand and stepping away, not giving the oily man another glance. Reluctantly, Jaune came along.

* * *

The trembling slowed.

The sickness gave way to the tingling in her fingers.

The hurt gave way to bliss.

She unlatched the door, giggling at the popping sensation.

She stood, the shakiness gone from her legs, although they still felt a little weak. She walked to the sink and turned the tap on, realizing she hadn't actually gone to the washroom a moment later.

She stuck a finger under the water, then turned the heat up. It felt like a thousand dull little pricks. Like pins and needles, but almost pleasurable in the way it struck her. Steam billowed out of the sink, tickling her cheeks.

"W tch t, yo ll et b r e."

Yang blinked slowly, feeling the heavy lids slide over her eyes.

"I said you'll get burned." The woman said, bright smile. "Seems like someone's had a little too much to drink." The words came out slowly, and Yang smiled. The other woman had glossy eyes too though. It was funny.

"That's you." Yang said with a laugh, reaching forward and poking the woman on the nose.

The newcomer giggled, and Yang took a moment to look her up and down. She was wearing leather pants and a slim waistcoat and nothing else. She looked good, tight clothes accenting a slim body with smooth, milky skin and smooth curves.

She had little ears too. Second ears. On her head. Kind of like Blake's.

A pang of guilt poked at her stomach. Yang ignored it, brushing the thought of Blake aside. She didn't want to feel bad.

She wanted to feel those ears. They were cute.

She reached a hand up and touched one, pinching it slightly between her thumb and forefinger. It was velvety smooth, and took her breath away.

"Most people ask first." The woman chuckled, and Yang withdrew her hand jerkily. She tried to mumble a sorry, but her lips wouldn't move properly, so it was just garbled. "It's okay though." The woman gave her a cute smile, and Yang smiled back. She stepped closer to the blonde.

She had cute, sharp features. Like a pixie.

The woman had bright crimson lips that sparkled in the dim lighting. Yang reached a finger up and stroked it softly, drawing a wide smile from the woman. Yang felt something press against her, and looked down to see the other woman had come so close that they were brushing against each other. When she looked back up, she found a set of lips against her own.

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift. Those lips felt good. Smooth and soft.

She opened her mouth with the intention of licking them. Before she got the chance though, she found the woman's tongue pressing against hers. It was better than those lips could be, so she let it keep going.

Arms wrapped around her, and Yang returned the favour, pressing her generous bust into the other woman. She got a soft moan in return, and she enjoyed the small vibrations that reached her through those crimson lips. They slid along Yang's until they were off her mouth and trailing to her cheek. The other woman continued kissing down Yang's face, making her way to the neck.

Yang sighed and opened her eyes.

To see Blake.

The faunus looked stricken. Like she had been stabbed. Yang tilted her head, feeling something slide down to her mouth. She licked her lips. It tasted like metal.

She raised her hand to her face, and when she pulled it away, there was crimson liquid on it. Like the woman's lips. Which were still working away at her neck.

Apparently sensing her hesitation, the other woman pulled away, eyes half lidded until they saw the blood. Then they shot open. Yang laughed. Then the woman let go of her waist, and Yang slumped against the wall, cracking a mirror. Blinking with wide eyes, Yang looked at it. There was a starburst crack in it, right over where her eye was. She reached up to touch it, and then saw the blood again.

"Guhh," She murmured as she turned back to Blake, who was racing over. She arrived just in time to catch Yang's fall.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Blake shouted at the other woman, who just stumbled back and away before running out.

"FUCK!" Blake cursed, laying Yang on the cold tile, fumbling around for her scroll. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" With shaky hands, Blake pulled it out. Yang wondered why her hands were shaking. It wasn't cold. It was hot. It felt really hot. Yang's face felt like heat was pulsing off it.

"Yang?" Blake gasped desperately as her gaze wandered over to the ceiling. Yang looked back at Blake, those beautiful, amber eyes. Those eyes that had been so close to Yang so many times.

Why hadn't she ever kissed Blake? Kissing people was easy. She kissed that woman.

It was hot. Yang wanted to be sick. The ceiling was starting to blur. It felt like everything was turning a quarter way round, then shifting back an eighth at breakneck speeds.

She hadn't kissed Blake though.

Why not? Blake was beautiful.

She had enough sense to turn her head to the side as she heaved heavily, her sick splattering against the floor.

"Nonononono…" The mantra continued, lulling Yang into a sleep. She wanted to sleep. Maybe then things wouldn't be so spinny.

She closed her eyes.

"NO!" Blake screamed. Yang opened her eyes, finding tears in Blake's. Blake should never cry. Blake was too beautiful to cry.

Yang tried to raise a hand to stroke Blake's cheek. Wipe away that tear. She didn't want that tear there. Tears weren't beautiful.

Everything tasted like copper and bile. Yang laughed. Then she was sick.

She would have choked on her vomit if Blake hadn't knocked her head sideways.

It was hot.

Blake was beautiful.

It was time to sleep.

Make things not spinny anymore.

Sleep.

 _No…_

...

 _Yes._

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _I have been dreading writing this chapter in particular. This was really hard for me. Also, who loves cliffhangers?!_

 _I had to cut a scene from this chapter. It should come back sometime, I don't know when. But this was a lot for a chapter. I'll leave it at this._

 _I hate cliffhangers, so I'll release the next chapter as soon as possible. This (next) weekend latest._

 _Good news: We have another lead. Kind of._

 _Unjax_


	19. Chapter 19: What If?

Everything was white.

And the world had slowed to a crawl.

Nonetheless, Ruby Rose could not understand it.

Everything was disjointed, unconnected.

It had been quiet. She had just been asking around. And then Yang was dying, and the ambulance showed up, and they wouldn't let Ruby into it, and then they followed it here, and now she was waiting.

Where the world was slow.

 _Overdose?_

But still made no sense.

Everything was white here, too. It was all clean and disinfected and _white_. No color. No nothing. Faceless people walked by. Faceless friends sat across from her. But there was only white walls. That's all that was real. That's all she could bring herself to know.

"I don't understand." Ruby whispered hoarsely, throat ragged and raw.

"Me neither," Blake whispered from beside her.

"Why would Yang-"

"Because she was broken." Blake's voice caught and snapped for a moment. "She just… Stopped trying. Stopped caring."

"But…" Ruby couldn't understand any of it.

She just. Couldn't. Understand.

"It started with drinking." Blake squeezed her eyes shut and shoved them against her palms, rocking back in the chair. "And then sometime that wasn't enough. And it just kept getting worse."

"Why though… Yang was always so…"

"I-"

"Which one of you is Blake Belladonna?" A tall, thin man in a white coat came over, holding a clipboard. Blake stood. "Miss Xiao Long has you listed as her emergency contact. Can I ask you a few questions please?" Blake nodded numbly. He looked around the small crowd that had gathered in the waiting room. "Perhaps it would be best if we talked in private."

Blake left.

Ruby had so many questions.

But all there was was white. White and waiting.

She really hoped Yang was alive.

The walls were so white.

What would she do if Yang was dead?

* * *

" _Hey Blake!" Yang called with a bright smile on her face, skipping up to the faunus as she sat in her bed, absently playing with a strand of hair as her eyes skipped over line after line of text. Her eyes flicked up and her stomach flip-flopped when she saw that shining smile and those violet eyes._

" _Hi Yang," Blake replied quietly after a moment, flipping the ribbon on the spine of the book over to mark her page before snapping the book closed. "What's up?"_

" _Wonderin' if I can ask you a favour!" Lilac irises flashed joyously at Blake, and she couldn't help but find herself smiling._

" _Anything," Blake replied softly, hoping Yang didn't read into it too much._

" _Awesome! Can you brush my hair for me?" Blake's mouth popped open and she looked at Yang with a tilted head._ Nobody _touched Yang's hair but Yang. Yang looked at her sheepishly. "There's this one spot in the middle of my back that I just can't reach. You'd be doing me a solid."_

" _Um… Alright," Blake managed to stammer out. Yang grinned, and Blake felt herself doing the same, drawn to that magnetic personality._

" _Great! Lean up against the wall." Yang tossed Blake a brush and then hopped onto the faunus' bed, letting herself bounce as she got into a sitting position, and then scooted up close to Blake, sitting between her legs._

 _Tentatively, Blake reached out to run her hands through Yang's hair, feeling the silky strands slide through her fingertips. The midday sun shone through the open window and lit the already golden strands up like a star, and it was like running her fingers through molten gold._

 _She brought the brush up to run it through Yang's hair, and it slid through it effortlessly. Blake kept good care of her own hair, but even it felt some resistance as she brushed it in the mornings. Yang's though was almost liquid. Not a strand caught on the brush, not even in the middle of Yang's back, where she claimed she could not reach._

 _As Blake moved to the side of yang's head, the blonde looked to the side slightly, giving Blake a perfect view of the woman's sculpted cheekbones and full eyelashes. She could see the outline of the nose against the burning fire of the sun, and the faintest whisper of breath snaked out of Yang, through warm lips that glimmered in the amber light._

 _Blake paused for a minute, and the hair in the brush slid free, a strand falling over Yang's forehead and tickling her cheek. Instinctively, Blake reached out and slid the liquid gold behind Yang's ear, tucking it in gently before trailing her finger down Yang's cheek.._

 _Yang stilled, and Blake heard her breath hitch._

" _Sorry," Blake said, lowering her hand and bringing it hesitantly back to her lap, lowering her eyes._

" _No, it's okay!" Yang said politely. Blake squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. That had been stupid._

" _Really, Blake," Yang insisted, her voice dropping a little this time. A smile tilted those scintillating lips up, and it was Blake's turn to lose her breath._

 _Yang reached her hand up and slid the hair that had fallen onto her chest back over her shoulder, offering it to Blake. For a moment, Blake lost herself in the gentle curve of Yang's exposed neck as it sparkled in the sunlight. Then, she picked up the hair and resumed her brushing in comfortable silence. She was just enjoying their proximity._

" _Blake?"_

" _Mm?"_

" _What do you think happens after Beacon?" Blake paused in her brushing, and Yang took the opportunity to slide her hair over her shoulder and lean back against Blake. Blake paused, speechless for a moment, as Yang leaned her head against her shoulder._

" _I- I guess we start hunting."_

" _As a team?"_

" _I don't think so," Blake murmured, still entirely distracted._

" _Why not?" Yang's voice took on a bit of a tone, but Blake missed it._

" _Well, Weiss is probably going to hunt in Atlas, if she doesn't take a job there instead. I'm guessing you and Ruby are going to stay here." Blake realized that her fingers were gently stroking through Yang's hair, but her partner didn't seem conscious of it. Or she didn't mind._

" _And what about you?" Yang asked, uncharacteristically quietly._

" _I don't know," Blake frowned. She hadn't thought about it._

" _Will you stay here?" Blake was looking out the window now, and missed the look of worry on her partner's face._

" _I don't think so. I want to help undo what the White Fang's done. I want to build a name in Atlas, where everyone thinks the faunus are most hated. If I can do something there, if I can become a notable huntress there of all places, maybe some of the corporations will second guess their labor practices. Maybe the children faunus living in the streets because they're scared of being taken to the same camps their parents were taken to will look up and have some hope. Then they won't have to join up with the White Fang just to survive. Maybe they can become something more."_

 _Yang was silent and still for a minute, and the two of them let the sun's rays beam onto them, tickling their skin, pressed together as it was._

" _What if Ruby and I go with you? We can be a team there." Blake shook her head._

" _I have to show that the faunus can stand by themselves. As much as I know that you and Ruby don't believe it, others would say that a faunus can only be a good huntress if there are humans helping her. They wouldn't see me as a good huntress, they'd see you and Ruby as the huntresses, and me as the family pet."_

" _... We'll still see each other though, right?" Yang rose from her place next to Blake, crossing her legs and looking up to the sky._

" _Yang, we'll be huntresses. Of course we'll see each other, but how often will we both have time off missions at the same time? How often will that overlap allow for travel time? If… If I want to do this properly, I have to be dedicated."_

 _Yang was perfectly still. Blake wondered if she had said something. The idea of not seeing Yang pained her, but the dream of them being together every day was a far off fantasy anyhow. No matter how much Blake's dreams were filled with gold and sunshine, her place was under the stars and shattered moon. She was to be a huntress, and that came with a price._

" _Thanks for the hand." Yang muttered and stood, walking out of the dorm room, slamming the door behind her. Blake stayed sat in her bed for a moment, stunned and still. She picked her book back up, flipped it open to the page. In the hour and a half that it took for Yang to return alongside her sister and Weiss, Blake had not read a single word._

* * *

Blake's eyes flicked open, to the greyed walls around her. In the daytime, they would be white, but the shadows of the stars had dimmed the room to a gentle blueish-grey.

She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She could hear the drips of the IV in the bag feeding into Yang's arm, trying its hardest to keep her alive. The doctors had warned that there wasn't anything else they could do. Yang would either wake up, or her heart would give out.

Once upon a time, Blake would have been certain that her partner would pull through. Yang Xiao Long had been the strongest woman she had known. She stood up for the weak, she never gave up, she would push herself to the breaking point, and then keep going without a second thought.

But the Yang that was lying in front of her, skin so pasty white that Blake could see the web of blue and purple veins snaking through her skin, was not the same Yang. At least Blake didn't think so. Had Yang just been a broken ruin the whole time, putting a smile on her beautiful face to hide the pain and fragility that threatened to snap her soul at the slightest tap? Had Yang ever been strong?

Blake didn't know.

And honestly, she no longer cared. All that she cared about now was that the girl in front of her woke up. She would throw her own life to the wind if it would bring Yang back, full and functional. If Blake could heal her partner's broken heart, she would willingly give her soul.

As it were though, there was nothing Blake could do. No magical healing, no spells, no fairy dust and no fairy tale ending. All she could do was sit and wait, counting the drips of the IV and the beats of her heart until the poison either burned through Yang and took her away, or it worked its way out in the grimy layer of sweat that coated Yang and made her glisten in the dim light.

Blake stood, unable to just sit there anymore, and walked over to Yang's side, sitting on the side of the gurney. It squeaked and groaned as she gently set herself down next to the broken girl in front of her.

Yang's hair was fanned out around her face like some sort of halo, golden and bright, the last lustrous part of her. But it was all tangled and knotted, something Yang would never let happen. Blake ran her fingers through the golden locks, sighing at the familiar silky river-like flow of it. She squeezed her eyes shut, doing what little she could to still her leaping heart as it tried to burst inside her chest. It ached, it squeezed, it cried out in unfathomable pain.

"What happened to you Yang?" She murmured, hand leaving the threads of gold to trail down Yang's cheek. It was sticky with the filth and sweat of humanity, and so, so ghostly pale. It felt a little like butter, Blake thought. "Where did you go? When did you get lost?"

Yang's hand twitched, and Blake's breath stopped dead in her lungs. Her eyes shot up to the little machine with lines jumping up and down, making a saw-tooth pattern, except that one was missing. Yang's heart had skipped a beat. Blake watched the machine closely, making sure the heartbeat regulated itself, before turning her eyes back down to meet closed eyes.

Blake wondered if this is what Yang felt like, right before she took those pills. The desperate, panicked flutter of her heart, the twisting of her guts as if some serpent were twisting through her and constricting all of her organs, the heart wrenching hopelessness and helplessness of her existence…

Blake wondered if she was given a chance for all that to go away if she wouldn't take it. Yang had been absolutely giddy as the drugs slowly disjointed the function of each organ. Blake was wondering if she herself would ever laugh again. Was it so horrible to take a little pill to make herself feel happy once again?

Looking at Yang now though, Blake knew she wasn't happy. Whatever she had seen in that bathroom as her heart shattered as Yang kissed some random person, seeing the blood leak out of her nose…

That was not happiness. Blake didn't know what it was, but even though Yang might have laughed and smiled, she had not been happy.

"What if you die-" Blake's voice cracked as the word fell from her throat in a desperate fall. "What if I never see you again?"

A tear slid down her cheek, cool and wet. "What if the last time I see you is here, broken, poisoned, sad… What if I never get to see the girl you've become a ghost of? What if I never get to see the sun shine on your hair, lighting up the entire room? What if you don't smile again? What if the only thing I can ever remember of you is this? A blank expression, sick and pale?

"What if I never get to smile _with_ you again?

"What if I meet someone with lilac eyes in the street, and all I can think of is you laughing as blood slides down your face?

"What if your whole life is this sad story? The one of an angel falling, and finally ripping her wings off to bleed to death?

"Yang..." A sob ripped itself from her throat as she squeezed the girl's hand, but she had no response. Just utter, complete, never ending blankness.

"What if I have to sit there staring at a sea of black clothes and talk about how beautiful you were as you lay in a casket behind me?

The tears fell freely now, sliding off her face to soak the bed next to Yang's face, still and impassive. Uncaring to the pleas of the girl begging with the skies to let her come back.

"What if I have to watch as they smother your light out with dirt as they bury you?

"What if I have to hug Ruby as she watches the final shovelful fall on your final resting place?

"What if I sit at a gravestone talking to you, because I had so much left to say?

"What if I don't get to tell you why I stayed in Vale after Beacon?

"What if I don't get to tell you why I followed you to Atlas?

"What if I don't get to tell you why I showed up at your hotel in the middle of the night after wandering the streets with broken moonbeams to light my way?

"Do...

"Do you have any idea what it would be like without you?

"...

"Dust... Yang...

"What if-

"What if I don't get to tell you-

"If I-

"If I don't get to tell you I l-

"...

"I love you…"

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _This is awful. This is trash. I'm so sorry... This was terrible and awful and I'm sorry._

 _I'll do better next time. I promise._

 _First things first though, YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!_

 _Over 200 reviews? Over 500 follows? Almost 300 favs?_

 _Holy shiznats. Y'all are awesome. I've almost left this story a few times now because I didn't think I was a good enough author to keep it going. I didn't think I could live up to your hopes... But you seem to still be enjoying it. So I'll keep writing._

 _Anyways, this is the chapter where we find out what most of you have probably already figured out. Also, this should be the only other dream/flashback we see. I was going to do some with Weiss and Ruby to show their old relationship, but that defeats the whole point of the letters. If you all want though, I can make a_ _side story with fluffy AF white rose._

 _Anyways, I did my best. I hope you liked it somewhat. This was a long time coming for Blake. She just needed to say it out loud. But just like Weiss and Ruby, is it too little too late? Well, if you're reading closely, you know the answer ;)_

 _Last time I answered a few questions, you all seemed to enjoy it. So I'll try to do that every 2-3 chapters from here on out._

 _chapter 17:_

 _Dark holt: Yeah... White walkers XD. Thought it was a fun little easter egg. Also, I haven't read all of the books, only the first one. I'll get around to that._

 _SakraDevanamWR: Yeah.. It's a lot slower than I thought it would be. Initially, this was supposed to be about 20k words long, but then the chapters got more fleshed out, and the characters needed a little more time to themselves... I couldn't just focus on Ruby because it killed so many aspects of the story that make Ruby's story so much clearer._

 _foreignpinoy: I thought I had made Ruby's eye color clearer than apparently I had. They're the same shade as Weiss'. That is something that I thought I had already included, but maybe I missed it._

 _chapter 18:_

 _kaiju62: I mussed up! It was supposed to be "can no more make a koi than I could a nightingale." I was writing too fast and must have missed it. Apologies, and thanks for pointing it out!_

 _levi97100: I reallllly wanted to get the bartender knocked out. But Pyrrha knows that huntresses and huntsman have to be above low insults to pride. She's better than giving into that._

 _Guest: I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the chapter. I will say though, I've been trying to build up how Yang's been doing this kind of thing for years. She felt dirty in the club because she's spent so much time there, and with Ruby back and seeing everyone else again (sober), she knew how what she had done was... Questionable. I hoped I had built it up enough, but I suppose not all feel that way. I'll strive to do better in the future._

 _Finally, thanks for reading! If you're sticking with this, I'm going to try and get on a one week release schedule for the summer, but that's kind of work dependant._

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	20. Chapter 20: Sunder

She can feel the rough sheets scratching against her skin, making it prickle and itch. She is acutely aware of it on her skin alongside the damp stench of her sweat and the constant beeping and whirring of the machines around her. She knows exactly where she is, but she did not want to open her eyes.

"I know you're awake." A cold voice whispers, but Yang wants to pretend it doesn't exist. She wants that voice to leave forever, but she isn't sure she didn't want to hear it. "I can hear your breathing."

"Maybe it'd be better if I wasn't. If I never woke." Her throat stings as she speaks, rebelling at being used after drying up and choking on bile. It burns. Her voice crackles like dry old paper.

Blake is silent after that. Yang slowly opens her eyes, squinting them shut again against the harsh, white light that burns at her irises. She blinks once, again, and it fades slightly, burns a little less. Finally she can open her eyes to see the long string of fluorescent bulbs above her, flaring in starbursts to her tired eyes.

She can see the black shadow of someone she had once known cast against the brilliant fires of the artificial light.

"How can you say that?" She speaks softly, scared and hurt. Her hair is draped over her face, but Yang can still make out the glowing embers of her brilliant eyes.

"Blake, could you turn off the lights?" Yang moans, shutting her eyes against white. All around it is white.

"It's midnight. You won't be able to see." There is a seething anger behind Blake's words, cutting sentences short and stiffening her normally graceful movements into a sharp staccato.

"Blake…"

Without a word or a sound she stands, and the lights go out. Finally, Yang opens her eyes fully.

It is dark. Blake had been right, Yang can't see. She tries to push herself up in the bed, but as she moves the world whirls and twists the way it did when she had filled herself to the brim with the very poison she had tried to stop everything with.

"You could have died." Her voice is hardly audible above the slight whirring of the machines and the drip drops of IV's. "Why?"

It is the only real question.

Why?

"Do you know what it's like?" Blake hissed from nowhere in particular. "To watch you wither away?"

"What? Do you want me to say sorry?" Yang tries to make the words hurt and cut. She brings her knees up to her chest as she speaks, tucks her chin atop them. Even the slight movements make her nauseous. Just like everything she's done for years had made her nauseous and feel like she was being impaled over and over on the stingers of deathstalkers.

"No… I want you to stop. I… I want all this to stop. You, them… I want to go back to Beacon. I want to sit on the airstrip after training and have an ice cream." Her voice is wistful, but crackling the same way Yang's does.

"What are you looking for here Blake? We can't go back to that."

"I… I know. But it doesn't mean I don't wish we could go back before everything happened. Back to when we were ready to take on the world. Ready to take anything it threw at us."

"We weren't ready." Yang sneers, clutching at the strands of her blanket.

Silence chokes the air for a moment, snuffs the life out of it. Yang is sure that Blake can hear her heart beating, hear her breaths wheezing in and out of her aching, burning lungs, but to Yang it is all just quiet. Insufferable, intolerable, miserable silence.

Yang hates silence. She had hated it ever since she had realized that spending time by herself was spending time with her demons, with the memories of who she had become. Without anything to numb her and cut off her past, Yang found the silence agonizing.

She isn't alone now. Blake is there, but for some reason that does not comfort Yang. It makes her more off-put. More ashamed. It was like having someone there to witness your most horrific acts; the ones everyone tries to keep hidden and secret. It was like those nights where the scathing eyes of others marked her as she walked, half dressed, through the clubs, ready and willing to do whatever was asked of her.

"How?" Blake asked, her voice perfectly neutral. Cold. The way Weiss' used to get when she would talk about her father or her work. "How did we end up here?"

Nothing. Yang has no words. She hasn't the vaguest clue how everything in her world has burned away and all the joy she had felt had turned to ash in her mouth and she was left choking on the remnants of her happiness.

Yang wonders if there could ever be a time where she can learn to love herself again.

If she can ever be herself again.

The woman in the mirror who's eyes she had not met for years, because the judgement in them would cripple her. Blake can hate her. Weiss can hate her. The whole world can hate her. Yang Xiao Long had never been one to care.

But when she meets those shattered amethysts in the looking glass, there is nothing there. Empty, cold voids. Yang Xiao Long might not have cared. The dragon may have snarled at the sheep and ignored their terrified baying. She is no dragon though. She is scared. She is broken.

She is a ghost.

And she hates herself for it.

"I am," Yang finally finds her voice again.

"What?"

"Sorry,"

"I don't think you are." But she is. She is not sorry for what she had done. She is sorry she had dropped that last pill, the one that would have made it all go away. Made it all numb. Made the world fade away to bliss and whatever hell waited for Yang beyond the thin veil of this life.

She chuckles without mirth..

"I think you want to die." Blake's voice blends with the shadows, barely distinguishable from the ever-permeating static of existence. "I think you wish I hadn't shown up when I had. Or at least that's what you want to think."

"I-"

"You're a coward Yang. You run and run and run, you hide. You open your legs for people you don't know, but you close your mind even from yourself. Everything about who you are is disgusting."

Yang can feel anger smouldering deep inside her. But there's also something deeper that cools the heat.

"I know," Yang whispers. She is caught in a hurricane, hanging on by the thinnest of strings. She wants to cut them.

Her eyes had started to adjust to the dim light of the stars. She looks over at Blake, at those hands gripping the hilt of Gambol Shroud laid across her lap. They are turning white with the pressure. White as ash.

Blake looks like a thundercloud just before the first flash of lightning splits the sky and the crack of thunder booms across the land. She trembles with a barely contained rage that burns cold as ice.

"Whoever you are now, Ruby would be ashamed."

Yang is silent for a moment.

"How do I look her in the eyes now?" Yang looks down at the sheets, at her hands.

Blake says nothing.

"I don't want to talk to her." Yang curls her hands into fists. "How can I explain who I am? How do I tell my little sister that I'm worse than a whore? A _slut_ and a junkie? How do I tell her I'm worse than the people I told her to stay away from as a kid?"

She can feel the shame, burning at her skin and making her want to be sick again. It itched all over right into her heart, which squeezes and twists and tries to escape, but there is no escape. There is nothing Yang can run from.

"Blake… I… I don't know what to do."

She looks up at Blake pleadingly, at the still, stone statue that had been her partner. It is nothing but shadow now, standing out darker against the inky room.

"You don't have to."

Everything is perfectly still.

"Blake…"

"I said you don't have to."

Yang doesn't understand. There's no dawning or recognition there.

"What do-"

"Do you have any idea how long you've been out? How close you came to dying Yang?"

She's silent. She doesn't. To her, it's just been nightmares and sweat and pain. Time had lost its hold on her.

"You should be dead. The doctors told me the day after you were admitted. They said that you had shocked all your organs, that your heart was barely beating, and that they didn't think you'd make it a week.

"Ruby didn't leave the hospital for the entire week. And somehow you held on by a thread. You crashed three times. You got by on adrenaline and a cocktail of more drugs than I've ever heard of. It wasn't the pills that were doing it to you anymore, your body just didn't want to live.

"But some part of you held on. Some little piece of you kept on going.

"But _a_ week turned into weeks, and you never showed any sign of getting any better. Ruby was torn. Do you know what it was like for her? Staying by your side as you choked on your own vomit? And she knew. I could tell. She knew this wasn't the first time. Maybe this was the worst time, but she knew it wasn't the _only_ time. I never said anything, but I think she began to realize what you had done to yourself. What you let others do to you.

"She had to go sometime. She couldn't stay with you, someone pretending to be the sister she had loved, forever. She had her own life. And Weiss was missing.

"Fuck Yang, did it never even occur to you? Are you so fucking selfish that it was okay for you to ignore what was happening to Ruby?

"You don't know what it was like."

"What? To lose someone you've loved? Ruby was like a sister to me. My parents, the only friend I had growing up, Ruby, now Weiss… Everyone loses people they love. You're dying with every breath you take, same as me. No one lives forever."

"No… Not that. I know. I know that I'm not doing it right. It's not Ruby, and she's back now anyways. You don't know what it's like to wake up in the morning and know you'd be better off dead. To know everyone would be better off with you dead." Blake is still. Just about to snap. "You think I don't know about you? The way you clenched your fists every time I had trouble sitting down because I was fucked so rough the last night. The way you had to stop yourself from getting up to cut their throats when they winked at me. The way you had to leave every time I let someone brush up against me and touch me in front of everyone else.

"You don't know what's it's like to be the person you used to pity and hate. I'm not the same person I was. I wonder what the old Yang would have done if she could see me. She'd probably kill herself to stop it all from happening. She was proud. I'm not. I'm nothing."

Blake still isn't moving.

"For whatever it's worth, I do hate myself for it. I know you can't hate me because you're still too busy chasing after the girl from Beacon, but she's gone. And I hate myself enough for both of us."

Blake moves, a slight tremble and a shaky breath.

"Shut up,"

"I'm sorry that you had to watch as I was violated, time and again, until I lost count."

" _Stop it,_ "

"Leave Blake. Let me die. Just go, and let me wither away until I'm too old for them to want to touch me anymore, if I make it that long. You keep thinking that maybe I'll come back to you, the real me that's buried behind the lust and poisons. There is no real me buried deep down. It's just me. Here and now. I am all there is. Ruined, broken, violated."

" _Yang-"_

"Unless you just want to fuck me, like all the others. You can if you want. I wouldn't mind. No one's around to stop you, and I won't. I won't scream if you try."

Blake explodes forward, and the blade scrapes against Yang's neck. She can feel the edge, honed to perfection, freshly sharpened, pressed right against her carotid artery. If Blake's hand trembled, Yang would bleed out faster than all the doctors and nurses in this hospital could fix her.

But wasn't she already broken beyond repair?

"Do it," Yang hissed at Blake, sneering in her face, covered by shadows.

The air was still for a moment, the only movement from Blake's straining, laboured breathing. Yang could feel it, making her gown flutter, brushing against her skin. It tickles.

"I should. It'd be a mercy. Maybe you're right, maybe the world would be better without you. You want me to do it. There's a piece of me that wants to too. Maybe then I could finally forget you, the way you've forgotten yourself. Maybe then I can finally live for myself. Maybe then you can finally be at peace.

"This isn't my choice though. And I don't want to lose you too Yang." Blake whispers, hardly audible, overshadowed even by the sound of Yang's skin releasing the blade as she withdrew.

"What do you-"

"Ruby's gone." Blake's voice is nothing more than the faintest of breaths. There is hardly form to it. Were a passerby to hear it, they would not know it had happened.

Those were words Yang could never forget.

"Blake…"

The summer wind blows by outside.

"She's gon-"

The storm breaks.

A scream rips itself from Yang's throat, guttural and primal. She screams, so loud and so violent her throat can't keep up and her voice cracks and she's screaming but no sound is coming out and she can't do anything but scream and rage and writhe but it doesn't make the pain go away and all she wants is for the pain to go away and for her sister to be there and for this all to be a bad dream and this can't be happening not again not now not after she was back and Blake is hugging her but Yang pushes her away but she just holds tighter and Yang is sobbing and she's screaming and she doesn't know which to do so she chokes and she feels the bile coming up but there's nothing in her stomach and it's just acid and it splatters on her and Blake and she tries to stop and her tears mix with her bile and there's sick everywhere and the overwhelming helplessness of it all crashes down on her like a wave and breaks everything that is left of Yang and there's nothing she can do but hold Blake and sob-

* * *

Snaky, shaky breaths heave in and out of Yang. She's on her side, curled in a ball. She doesn't know how she got there. Blake is sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes staring straight ahead, cold and empty.

"How?" Yang asks.

"I don't know. She just sent me a letter one day, saying she wouldn't be coming back."

"So she's still ali-"

"No. She made that much clear. Or, if she is she won't be for long. Same with Weiss."

"Then we need-"

"No. We don't need to do anything. I already know what I'm going to do, but as far as I see it, you have a choice to make. The same damn choice you've been waiting to make for years."

"What do you-"

"Shut up." Blake growled, her voice dangerously low. "Ruby went after Weiss. That's what we know. And now she's gone. Nothing is going to change that.

"So we can pick up the trail, try to find the pieces she left behind, find out what happened to her and Weiss and find out who's responsible. We can do our job, as huntresses, and stop this from happening to anyone else. We can find out who to hurt, because someone is going to pay for this.

"Or you can die. All the pain goes away. You don't have to remember what it feels like to lose your sister. You don't have to remember every time that you let someone touch you in the worst ways. You can forget everything. Fade away to nothing, the way you've been trying to for years.

"You've got a choice Yang. And I'm going to make you make it now, before you hurt me or anyone else more than you have."

Blake stood and dropped Gambol Shroud onto Yang's lap.

"Slit your wrists, or don't. There's nothing here to distract you. Nothing left for you to pretend with. No drugs. No illusions. I'm going to leave you alone with a sharp piece of steel, and the choice is yours."

Blake stood and walked towards the door pausing as she lay her hand on it. "If you choose to die, I won't forgive you. Ruby wouldn't have either. No one will. But you won't have to care, because you'll finally have the peace you've wanted for so long. But if you come out of that door, if you choose to live, then we'll find who's responsible.

"And we will hurt them worse than they could ever hurt us."

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _I have no guarantees for update schedule anymore. Do know that this story will continue, it will be finished. It's still my priority, it just sometimes takes a while to get it out._**

 ** _On to this chapter and the change of story pace:_**

 ** _We are not done with Ruby. Ruby is still the main character, and the majority of the rest of the story will be told from her perspective (it'll make more sense at the end of the next chapter)._**

 ** _Additionally, I very nearly did not write this part of the story. I very nearly changed it. I very nearly changed the entire story because I liked what we had going before. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, aside from some people not liking how Yang treats herself and lets herself get treated. Which is fair. That was never going to be an easy storyline._**

 ** _But the fact of the matter is that this story is following a plan. There's a definitive beginning and end, and everything is going to make much more sense the way it is playing out right now. I wish I could tell everyone how everything ends, because it would make much more sense. So if you hate what I just did, I'll ask you to trust me and wait until the end before you make your judgements._**

 ** _A huge thanks to /u/sodnam for signing on as beta. Ever since Blue left, I've been lonely writing this. Ee was also the one who convinced me not to stray from the path of the story and that the underlying theme of the story is more important than appeasing what I believe would make the readers happier in the short term._**

 ** _For those of you still with me (I'm guessing about half of you at this point), thank you very much for reading and continuing along with this story. I hope that when all is said and done, you'll see why I've made the choices I have. It should all make sense._**

 ** _For those of you looking for a tease, the next chapter will most likely be called Pilgrim._**

 ** _Thank you all for reading. As per usual, suggestions, ideas, or thoughts are greatly appreciated. After the final fight in By Year's End, I'm thinking this is the most controversial thing I've done as an author. So opinions are appreciated._**

 ** _Cheers,_**

 ** _-Unjax_**


	21. Chapter 21: Noctum

_Hello all,_

 _I don't normally do this, but a lot of PM's have gotten me worried for those reading. So this chapter contains content that may be considered graphic or triggering. Read at your own discretion._

* * *

 _Ruby,_

 _Sometimes I wonder what my world would be like if I had never met you._

 _It's horrible, I know. But on lonely nights like this with nothing but the icy cold breeze to comfort me and no love left to warm my frozen heart, I can't help but wonder whether my life would better or worse without the ghost of your memory haunting me forever._

 _What would it be like if we never had ice cream overlooking the kingdom of Vale? What if you had never held me close as I clutched at you, the last salvation I had from my own broken mind. What if you had never braided my hair? What if you had never kissed me under the light of a broken moon and made me feel that even when the world was falling apart around me_ I _was still solid. Grounded. Loved._

 _I first thought it the day after I found out. After I wiped the tears from my cheeks for the last time because I had no more to weep. I had so much love for you and there was so much more pain I could never express, but the tears no longer helped. It was just me, afraid and alone, in a world without light._

 _I felt blinded. That world you showed to me that first day when you held my hand, when you showed me the world you loved and let a piece of it fall into mine - it was gone. Snuffed out like a flame on a candle desperately struggling to stay lit in the howling winds. And then I wondered… What if I had never seen?_

 _I think that's the moment I knew I hated myself._

 _To question the gift you gave me? To reject the love and happiness you offered me with your heart bared and wide open? You were the summer rose that bloomed and made me realize that this garden of weeds could be beautiful. You were the one who made me think that maybe, just maybe, I could believe in myself. That perhaps I did not need to work at the SDC until I was old and withered and frail and used up, my courage and hope scattered to the wind like so many leaves in autumn._

 _And I begged for it all to be taken from me._

 _Upon your return, the biggest question I had was whether you would remember, and how much. I almost hope you don't know me. I hope that maybe you can forget all the pain and misery that I brought you. I hope you can forget me and put me out of your mind so you do not need to suffer as I have, in a world without the other half of your soul._

 _Yet, I send you letters._

 _I'm so sorry, my Rose. It must be a special sort of cruelty that has inspired me. To remind you of me, every day, but tell you I can never see you. I want to tell you to trust me, to believe that it is better this way, because I well and truly believe it is, but I don't think you could. Not if you don't remember me. Not all of me._

 _I was… Awful to you._

 _And even now, as I admit that I would do anything for you Rose, I write this letter. I write this letter to remind you of me. And I write it while I wish I could forget you._

 _In a way, I suppose I will. And you me._

 _I had a dream last night._

 _I was in a cage in a cave. It was dark. I was shackled so all I could see was the stone in front of me, grey and smooth. Unremarkable. It was just a stone wall. But the cave was not so far underground, and when the sun shone down, I could see shadows flickering across the wall. Silhouettes of the world. They excited me, if only because the long hours of the night were filled with nothing but darkness. Shadow, with no light to give it shape or meaning._

 _So I watched the shadows dance and play all day. I was enraptured, entranced by the beauty of their display. I never once wondered what made the shadows. They were all I knew. The shadows were my world._

 _Day in, and day out._

 _Day in._

 _Day._

 _Out..._

 _An infinite repetition. Over, and over, and over._

 _And eventually the shadows grew dull, eventually they no longer excited me. Eventually the days were not so different from the nights._

 _Until one day a shadow arrived, bigger than the rest. It blocked out the other shadows, and I could hear clacking as it slowly shrunk, and then it was hidden within my own. And then beside my own. And then you were there, smiling at me._

 _You took my hands, broke my shackles. You set me free, and led my timid, bewildered soul towards the exit. How could something like that exist? All I had seen were those shadows, and now I saw the entrance of the cave from which they all came. The place from which the light came._

 _It shattered my world, but I allowed you to pull me forward, towards the exit. You left, but I was terrified to follow. I saw a rabbit, a nightingale, a dove... I knew them all from their shadows, but to see the essence of them, to see what was_ really _there…_

 _It was beautiful. It was a whole new world I would never have thought to see before._

 _And you led me to it._

 _But I was also scared._

 _To step past the edge of that cave, to cross that line… I knew there was no going back._

 _You were sad. You frowned, tried to encourage me, grabbed my hands, but I tried to back away. You kept encouraging me though, you held me, led me, told me not to be scared but I was scared and I wanted to cry._

 _So I took a step back. Turned away._

 _But to give up now that I had seen it all…_

 _I turned back to rush to you, to hug you and kiss you and tell you I wanted to see this new world with you._

 _You were gone._

 _I could see the last vestiges of your sad, silver eyes as you turned to ash in the wind, scattering to the four corners of the world._

 _And in that moment I knew what true fear was. I fell to my knees sobbing as I saw you disappear, the one who guided me to the light, the one who showed me the world… How could you just be gone? How could I be weak for one moment and then turn around to find you missing? To find you had left behind nought but a hole in my soul._

 _So I scrambled back to my cage and tried to jam the shackles back together around my wrists but they were already broken, and no matter how much I wanted to, I could never forget the world you had showed me._

 _And the question remained - would it have been better to have never seen that world?_

 _I… I know I'm terrible and broken. I know I can never forgive myself for what I've done. Even what I've thought. I don't know what it was you found buried within me that you found beautiful, but I find I can no longer see it, even if I caught hints of it when I was with you._

 _I don't want to live anymore, Rose. Not by myself. Not in this world where all I can see is shadows on a stone wall._

 _So I won't._

 _I hope you do not worry about me. Even if you do remember me, or wish to from the hints these letters give you, I hope you understand that I offered you nothing but pain. Perhaps if we could go back to the days of Beacon when it was just us whispering sweet nothings into the darkest shadows of the night, bringing along our own hopes as light, I could be happy again._

 _We cannot go back._

 _And that is why you can never see me again Rose. I give you this life in hopes that perhaps, if I cannot be happy, that you can. It's because I think the truth is that I shackled myself in the first place in my dream. Because I think I would chain you if I tried to set you free. I would clip your wings, and you would stay by my side anyhow._

 _I cannot survive this world where I have loved and lost. I am weak, I know that much now. I know that people have seen worse, been worse, survived worse, and come out stronger. I hold my family partially accountable for this - though more the name than any one person. When all is said and done though, I have no excuses._

 _Without you, knowing what I once had with you, I cannot survive._

 _And if there's any chance that living a life never having known me, Rose, means you can be happy, I do not offer myself the chance to deprive you of this. So, even as this resignation further twists the broken shards of my heart, I know I can never see you again._

 _The greatest mercy I can ask is that when you return, I will not be offered the temptation of a chance to do the same. I know what that means for me, and I would welcome it with felicity in my heart._

 _I… Miss you Rose. I will miss you forever, until the day you join me forevermore; though I am afraid at that time neither of us will be able to think or feel or be happy any longer. There will be only nothing._

 _Perhaps that is the greatest mercy of all._

 _-Weiss Schnee_

* * *

Ruby clutched the scroll tightly, something that had been smouldering deep in her stomach spitting and sparking, igniting more fiercely. She _had_ to find Weiss. The heiress was wrong. She had to be wrong. Ruby could scarcely remember anything, she knew almost nothing about the world now.

But she knew she was not better off alone. Without Weiss.

She would always be better with Weiss.

Steeling herself, Ruby tucked the scroll back into her pocket and looked up to the large, arching doors in front of her. She pushed them open to reveal a dark room, nothing more than an entrance hall that lead to a second set of doors lit from behind by a blinding, yellow spotlight.

As Ruby approached, the doors slid open to reveal a wide expanse of a room with a high ceiling under which hung a web of steel beams and scaffolding, holding hundreds upon hundreds of lights flicking side to side, back and forth in a dizzying display. The heavy thumping beat drove the mass of sweaty bodies sliding together on the glass dance floor, itself covered in neon lowlights.

A man in a black suit and fedora with scarlet glasses and tie held out his hand to her. Ruby eyed him as he scowled at her. A memory danced around the edge of her consciousness, but she didn't bother to pull at it.

"I.D. please." He said in a thick accent. Vaccuoan perhaps? Ruby looked at where his eyes would be were they not covered. She tapped Crescent Rose, hanging from the belt attachment she had on.

"I'm a huntress." His eyebrows shot up, and she saw him look around nervously. She followed his panicked glance to the side, where another man dressed identically was furiously shaking his head and waving his hands back and forth across his chest.

"Um… Please leave? We have a bad record with huntresses." Ruby tilted her head at him, but ignored his request.

She was there for a reason, after all.

"I need to speak with Junior."

* * *

Yang knew the human body.

Between the countless nights she had spent exploring the bodies of what she was hesitant to call lovers, and the medical training she received at Beacon, Yang knew the body very, very intimately.

She knew that there were countless ways to end her life with the long blade clenched tightly in her hands, so tightly it was drawing blood from the fist gripping the edge. She could feel it scraping against the bones of her fingers. The pain was refreshing. It cleared her mind. Made focusing on the question easier. The only question that mattered.

How would she do it?

The second that Blake had left the room, Yang knew what she wanted. She wanted to not care. She wanted to forget the world around her. Her life was worthless, meaningless, and a burden to those that had clung onto the last vestiges of love for the woman who had loved and cared for them in Beacon.

She was a coward for not having done it sooner.

The throat, they had been taught, was the most efficient way to kill someone besides beheading. If Yang were to kill another with the blade, it would be her first choice. The victim becomes so preoccupied with air for the few seconds they have that they would forget about killing her.

It seemed like it would be awkward to cut her own throat though. She considered impaling herself, all the way through, but that could be a lengthy process. Yang wanted it to be as fast as possible. She did not want pain.

She remembered Blake telling her a story at some point in time. Some time far off when the sun shone gold instead of a scorching red. Sometime before every inch of Yang's skin seemed to constantly burn.

It was a story about someone drowning. How they felt as the screaming and burning of their lungs slowly gave way to a calm and peaceful bliss. Except it didn't. There was no peace or grace to dying. The body doesn't really know how to die. Yang knew it would be a messy process, no matter how she chose to end it all. Had she not dropped that last pill, then maybe, maybe she could have gone in a narcotic-induced mess that she wouldn't have to actively experience.

But the death Blake offered her through the black steel gripped tightly in Yang's fingers, dripping crimson, was going to be intimate. Yang would feel every heartbeat, every tender moment.

She would feel the initial shock of the traumatic wound. The pain would not hit then. Her body, warped and twisted as it was, would be pumped up on so much adrenaline that all she would feel is an intense burst of energy. Fight or flight.

But the body can't escape it's own wounds. Yang knew she would go from blood loss. Once the body realized it couldn't get away, once the adrenaline wore off, she would start to feel it. Anything fatal was bound to be deep. It was bound to hurt.

Yang wondered if she would scream.

Then the body would begin to panic. Impulses beyond her control would writhe over her. But she'd be losing blood and oxygen. She would be losing her energy. If she was initially struggling against the death, she would find herself unable to. Soon, she wouldn't be able to move as her heart pump more of her life out with each throbbing beat. Each contraction would force more blood out of her, and each beat would get weaker and weaker as her vision blurred and darkened. The pain would begin to go - if she was still conscious, and it would just be darkness, all consuming, all enveloping.

It was those last moments that scared Yang. When she would know that she is dead, and she only has time for one last thought.

From the reports she had read and stories she had heard from those who had been resuscitated after that point, there were two kinds of people. Some people spoke of their last thoughts being of those they loved. The regrets they had. Embarrassment, sometimes, for dying, wasting so much potential of their life. Most urinated in furious frustration.

Very few people were like that though. Most said they were so terrified of dying that they couldn't think of anything but how they wished they could break through the dark curtain closing over them back to life. How they would give anything for a chance to do anything to not be bleeding out, covered in their own shit and dirt and grime and blood.

Part of Yang wanted to see those she loved.

A bigger part didn't. She didn't want her last thought to be of Blake and Ruby and Weiss and her dad. She didn't want the thought of them hating her, that screaming fury at herself for dying and wasting everything, driving her to take back the quick slit of…

Her wrists.

Yang looked down at the ghostly flash of the moon against her milky skin. The blade pressed gingerly against the throbbing inside of her wrists. Her pulse was quickening already at the thought of it. She was getting ready for the fight of her life… The last fight of her life. Once it started, she knew she would want to stop it. She would clamp down on the slice, try to undo it, scream for help, but Blake would have been sure to ensure none would come.

She knew once she tried, she would regret it. But this is what she wanted. She needed this. It was penultimate bliss, but first she had to pass through the trial of dying. On the other side waited death, dark, spectral, forever.

Eternal.

Yang took a breath. She thought it would be steady, level. It was shaky. She was beginning to hyperventilate. She was almost sobbing. Her lungs were constricting, the iron band of fear tightening around her. She wanted to be sick. Her legs were going numb and she could barely feel her fingers.

She tightened her grip, closed her eyes. Took another breath. Longer. Less shaky. Preparing.

She would have to be quick. In the seconds between when she made the cut and when the adrenaline died she would have to switch the hand holding the blade and slit her other wrist. It would have to be quick. Otherwise it would take her twice as long to bleed out.

Twice as much pain.

Yang squeezed her eyes tighter, starburst auras beginning to cloud her vision. She breathed again, around the choking lump in her throat, but she couldn't breath properly. She was gasping and sobbing. Salt trickled over her lips and Yang's tongue flicked out, catching the tears now falling down her face.

She needed to do it now. Or she wouldn't.

She took a breath. As she let it out she raised her arms, pressing the blade in, feeling the bite, but no cut. She kept it up as she sucked in a breath. Breath out, arms down. In, up. Out down. The pace quickened as Yang prepared. Her breaths quickened, suffocating and hyperventilating, growing in a fevered pitch as her stomach pinched and her lungs squeezed, nearly on fire from the lack of proper breath. Her nose curled as the breaths roared in and out, her pulse crashing in her ears, tempo getting faster and faster, desperate, fearful, fervent.

She raised her arm high.

She snarled out the final breath.

Grip tightened.

Blade bit skin.

Teeth clenched.

Yang tensed.

And screamed out the air in her lungs.

* * *

 _I'm normally not a fan of warnings. I feel like life is life, and sometimes there are things that happen in life that are horrible and ugly and unpleasant. These harsh realities are something you have to deal with, learn to overcome and bear. It's how you get stronger. If art is a reflection of our reality, than sometimes what we create will reflect the cruelty of the word. The bad things._

 _That said, I've gotten a lot of PM's that honestly worry me. This is the first and last time I will put a warning on this story, so if you're reading from here on out, please be aware of your mental state._

 _I also rarely feel my writing is good enough to warrant provoking that kind of response. So I assume people don't feel that way._

 _That's all beside the point though._

 _Anyways, don't lynch me right now. There's still plenty of story left. Ruby's investigation is underway!_

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	22. Ch 22: The Stillness Between Breaths

Ruby trailed the two men in suits, looking around at the crowded venue. The dance floor was illuminated in a grid-like pattern of lights that shimmered against the sweaty and glittering skin of the club's patrons. Hundreds of bodies pressed tight as women in tight, flashy clothes rubbed themselves against well dressed men with hair that was once slicked back, but now fell in greased, random swathes of curls.

Around the club, cylindrical tubes poked out against walls and between seats, emitting a sickly sweet fragrance like wilting roses. Beneath that, Ruby could still detect the faint odour of alcohol permeating everything. A pang shot through her at the burning smell, reminding her of Yang.

It sickened her that this is what made her think of her sister now.

Gone were the memories of sunny days and starry nights atop their house in Patch. Now it was the gut wrenching feeling that she may never see her sister again. All she could think of was the pale, milky-skinned girl held in Blake's arms as she rushed from the club to the ambulance, covered in her own puke and spittle.

It bothered Ruby. Summer had always said…

Ruby clenched her eyes shut as she tried to remember her mother. In the weeks since her return, those were still memories that eluded her. She had occasional glimpses of a brilliant smile and silver eyes, half covered by a short bang that slid across a face. And the cloak… Always the cloak.

But she could never quite lay a finger on any particulars. Memories would begin, but trail off as if there were no true substance to them. As if her mind was searching in an area it knew there should be something, but there was just a hole now.

Shaking her head, Ruby moved forward, gliding through the shadows. A few heads turned to follow her, sometimes eyes would slide up and down her figure. Those gazes made Ruby a little uncomfortable, but she allowed them. Weiss probably would have stared them down until they stopped, and Yang probably would have toyed with them-

Or she would have used to.

The two men, who could have been brothers they were so similarly dressed and styled, led her to a back corner. There was a wide, glass staircase there that led up to a stylized lounge. There was a private bar to one side and large, red, plushy cushions upon which were sat an entourage of men wearing red shirts and black pants and girls wearing skimpy dresses, half of which were sliding off of shoulders. They didn't seem to mind, and many were in fact squeezing their chests together, encouraging the spaghetti straps to fall off. A few men encouraged the movements, fingers trailing down skin that rose in goosebumps at their touch and pulling clothing with them. Ruby curled her nose.

In the middle, obviously the centre of attention, was a large burly man wearing a tailored white shirt with a black vest and red tie. He had grizzly sideburns that, coupled with his large stature, made him look somewhat like a bear.

As Ruby strode forward, the chatter and smiles died out. The man in the middle, absorbed as he was with one of his own tales, was the last to notice. When he saw her, his wide grin was wiped off his face and replaced with a grimace.

"A huntress… Thought I was done dealing with your type." He grumbled as he leaned forward, hands on knees, and pushed himself up.

He was very, very tall.

Ruby tried to smile at him, be friendly the way she remembered she would have been the years before her death, but now of all times it was nearly impossible for her to summon the cheer and joy that had once come so easily.

So she didn't smile.

"Junior?" She asked, her voice taught and business-like. She drew her hood back over her head and let it drop.

"Haven't gone by that name for a while…" He trailed off and squinted at her. His eyes went up and down, but not the way the men's and women's' had downstairs. This was studious, almost academic. He was studying her. "... Which I guess is about right for you, Ruby Rose."

Ruby stopped in her tracks, hand gliding towards her scythe. Junior raised his hands submissively, and she stilled her hand. She didn't relax though, muscles taut and ready to spring into action.

"How do you know my name?" Ruby demanded.

"Because it's my job to. People don't come back to life without causing a bit of a stir, especially in the underworld. You're a hot topic now." Ruby's brow furrowed as she studied the burly man.

"What do you mean?" He paused, sighed, and grabbed his whisky.

"Do you have any idea what everyone in the underworld wants?" He raised an eyebrow at her, but Ruby didn't move, still half-ready to spring into a fight. He shrugged. "They all want to be feared. They want to make a name that makes people's stomach's churn and eye skitter around the room in terror. They want to build a legacy of malice, because then no one will ever forget them. In a thousand years when their bones are ashes and their families are splintered, they want people to whisper their names, use them to envoke terror. They want to be immortal, even if it is just a cheap facimile of the real thing.

"No one ever thought someone could live forever. And then you happened.

"Every greedy rat scurrying around the belly of the underground wants a piece of you. They want to dissect you and figure out how the hell you got back to life. Immortality fetches a high price, and you've finally offered a way to find what so many have desired for so long. Everlasting life."

A pit began to form deep inside Ruby's stomach. She had never considered for a second that anyone would take interest in her for having come back to life. The implications of it were worrying.

"But nothing's happened…" Ruby's mind raced as she tried to think of any strange encounter she had had, any shady figure, but nothing came to mind. There was nothing, and no one.

"That's because until just now, you've been surrounded by three of the best Hunters in Remnant. But now…" Junior stood, brushing some imaginary lint off of his waistcoat.

Metal scraped on metal as a dozen blades were unsheathed around Ruby, red glinting like drops of blood on the dark backdrop of the club. She dropped into a crouch, reached behind her to grab Crescent Rose and-

In one smooth motion, Junior pulled a hefty pistol from the back of his belt and cocked it, aimed directly at her forehead. The bullet wouldn't kill her - her aura would stop it, but it would drain the protective shield significantly, and against the odds she was facing, that didn't make Ruby comfortable.

"Melanie, Miltia, if you would." Junior spoke calmly, as if there weren't a care in the world.

"Whatever," Two voices drawled simultaneously, indistinguishable but for the slight cannon in when they spoke. Ruby felt someone unlatch Crescent Rose from its holster, and then two girls, a little taller than Ruby, passed her. One wore a tight red dress that flared out at the bottom, leading into lace stockings. Her boots were high-heeled and a shining, polished leather. On each of her forearms, there were two long, serrated blades jutting out like wicked claws.

The other girl was a mirrored image in white. Both had raven black hair pulled tightlly back into ponytails, turquoise eyeshadow, and lilting eyelashes. They were both pale, but not in a sickly way. Their skin each glittered like they were covered in diamonds, pulled tight over toned frames of wiry muscle that slid just under the surface.

Rather than the shadowy reds and blacks of her twin, the second girl was covered in an icy scheme. Pale blues and stark whites swirled on her tight leather bodice, which luffed out into swirls of crystalline fabric. She wore thigh high boots with sharp spikes like icicles flaring out down the centre of them.

She reminded Ruby of a colder Weiss. Ice, rather than snow. The winter that freezes and starves rather than reminds all of how beautiful the summer is, in turn making the season beautiful in its own way.

The red one had Crescent Rose, and dropped it on the couch behind the burly man in front of her.

Ruby lowered herself into a crouch, eyes flicking between the red weapons held at the sides of each man who had been sitting on the couch. None of them were drawn yet, but without her weapon, Ruby was ready to spring into action at the slightest twitch.

"Whew!" Junior let out a tense breath, and collapsed back into his seat, his shoulders relaxing. "Sorry about that, Red, but your sister's taught me that huntresses can be rather unpredictable." Ruby stared at him, wide eyed.

"What?"

"She used to do some jobs for me… She was always liable to trash the place after getting drunk on her earnings though. She was rather… Volatile."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry for the theatrics there, Ruby, but I just don't feel safe when huntresses have their weapons around me. Now, a recently revived huntresses wouldn't be coming to an information broker for nothing. Why don't we go into the back to discuss business?" Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but Junior raised his hand and stood. The entourage followed suit, their toys of flesh forgotten on the couches, each pouting at being cheated out of a night of poison and lust and the owner's expense.

* * *

The office was a large space, dimly lit, and painfully reminiscent of the club outside. The dark reds and deep blacks of the leather reminded Ruby of exactly what kind of person she was dealing with, even as he lounged behind a thick, glass desk in a high-backed chair. His thick arms rippled as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back. Behind him, the two twins stood with their hips cocked, looking bored.

"So, miss Rose, what is it I can help you with?" He boomed with a large, friendly grin on his face.

"Um, well I was looking for some information."

"Of course you were! I don't expect huntresses to drop in just to say hi." He chuckled at his own joke. The girl in white behind him rolled her eyes. "So what is it?"

"Well…" Ruby looked up again at Crescent Rose, clutched in the red twin's hands. "Um… I want to find someone."

"Listen here Red, I can't help you if you don't tell me what you need."

"Why would you help me?" Ruby blurted out. Junior's brow creased in confusion. "You took my weapon, you pointed guns at me, and now you're saying you're going to help me."

"Oh… That was kind of standard procedure with your sister. Look, it's nothing personal, but huntresses are a liability when they have their weapons. If you want to deal, we're going to do it without weapons."

Ruby fidgeted uncomfortably, playing with the hem of her skirt absently as she sized up the three other occupants of the room. Junior was big, but Ruby had fought plenty of people bigger than herself and won easily. She was worried about the twins. She had no idea how experienced they were, or if they were really just two club girls who liked to play dress up. The sleek muscles shifting slightly under their exposed skin didn't seem to indicate as much though.

"Weiss Schnee." Ruby breathed the name out between trembling lips as she turned back to Junior. "That's who I'm trying to find."

He was quiet for a moment, eyes locked on Ruby. Then he sighed and stood, walking over to a mahogany table on the side of the room, atop which sat a crystal strainer and a few glasses. He poured himself some scotch, swirled it around, then downed it in one go.

"Shit," He sneered out against the burn of the alcohol. He wiped his mouth across his sleeve, refilled the glass, then sauntered back over to his chair. "I was hoping this wouldn't come up."

Ruby watched him, intent, as he put the glass down with a trill _clink_ and rubbed his temples. "What wouldn't come up?"

"You have no idea what kind of hell that heiress brought along with her, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm supposed to take everything I know about her to the grave, but if you're here… I know a few things. But if I'm going to dive into this, you're going to have to do something for me."

"What… Kind of thing?" Ruby inquired. If he had information, she needed to know. And for Weiss, she would do anything.

"Nothing past what your sister used to do for me. Shake a few trees, take down a few people who operate below the eyes of the law."

"Doesn't… Your whole operation work outside the law?"

"Yeah, but so does theirs. So, y'know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

"Okay…"

"Anyways, there's a rogue faction of the White Fang operating in the northern quadrant. Normally the Fang and I have some agreements about boundaries, but these grunts don't seem to have any respect for the treaties we've negotiated. I'd like you to join Melanie and Miltia in disposing of a shipment they got. I don't need the contents, I just need _them_ not to have it."

"Excuse me?" The red twin drawled from behind Junior.

"You want _us_ ," The white one gasped in disbelief, "To work with _her_?!"

"Yes!" Junior growled, irritated. "You worked with her sister all the time."

"Yeah, but Yang was cool." Ruby frowned. She was cool. Kind of. She was actually a little warm right now, but she was totally cool.

Junior sighed, and focused on Ruby again.

"They'll take you where you need to go. I'll dig up what I can on your heiress while you're out. We'll discuss more when you get back."

…

..

.

* * *

Blake could feel it.

It was the same thing she had felt when she was a child, lost and alone on the streets. It was the same thing she had felt when Ozpin had called them into his office in Beacon, so far from where all of them had gone since their time at the academy. When he showed them the tattered remains of Ruby's cloak. Blake's heart wrenched between each beat, her stomach twisted in a violent maelstrom, her skin was cold and sweaty and covered in goosebumps even though she felt like her face was on fire.

She tried to focus on her breathing, but she choked on the air and gulped and gasped it back out, the exhalation bringing tears to her eyes as she squeezed them shut to try and blot it out. Try to forget everything.

But she couldn't forget it.

Each pulse of each synapse in her mind cyclically ran through the same path. Every sense shut down until she was stranded in the desolate darkness of her own mind, with nothing but one single, repetitious, agonizing, obliterating thought.

 _Yang is dead._

It was the only thing that could possible exist for her. Her entire world, thousands upon thousands of kilometres, reduced to one, single, all-permeating thought. A pale corpse splattered in crimson, sprawled with twisted limbs and tousled golden hair across the pure white tiles of the hospital floor.

She could see it so vividly in her mind that nothing else was real.

And Blake was alone.

Her ears were ringing, her vision was blurred by tears, and her skin tingled.

She tried to hold it back, but the torrential storm of anguish crashed over her, and a single, chocked sob broke the eternal silence of the hall. It echoed off into the silence of the midnight air.

 _Click._

Blake froze.

It was the tiniest noise, the slightest movement of the brass doorknob slipping and twisting inside its socket, sticking and shifting.

But it was _something_.

Blake backed away from the door, eyes fixated on the glinting metal, studying each shallow scratch, each spec of light shining away from it for anything. Any movement.

And it moved.

Blake's heart stopped.

And the door swung open on smooth hinges, only the whisper of the door fanning the air making any sound.

And there was Yang.

Standing.

 _Alive._

Her face was pale, like a ghost, and her eyes were glassy. Her skin was damp with a sheen of sweat that glittered in the hollow fluorescent lights, and her hair was knotted and messy.

 _Drip_.

Blake's eyes darted to the sound, a small, scarlet bead breaking against the ground and splattering in a thousand fractal replicas. Blake's eyes followed the path of the blood up to Yang's hand, covered in small rivulets of the crimson liquid, flowing over and between her fingers. They came from a shallow gash in her wrist, no more than a fraction of an inch from the delicate network of veins and arteries that, if slashed, would have inevitably killed the woman standing in front of her.

 _Alive_.

"I…" Yang's voice was scratchy, like it was caught somewhere in her throat. "I did'n- I don'-"

Blake broke forward, slammed into Yang, wrapped her arms around her. A moment later, two strong arms surrounded her shoulders, pulled her close. Blake hugged Yang so close she was scared she might crack the other woman's ribs, but she didn't care. She just needed to feel her, warm, solid, real. She smelled like sunflowers and sweat and sick. Blake loved it.

"Blake, I…" Yang trailed off when Blake pulled back. Every detail of Yang's face was vibrantly clear, each pore, each bead of sweat, her eyelashes, the creases of her lips, and her amethyst eyes. Blake didn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. All she could do was feel the relief and lean forward, closer, and the distance between them disappeared and suddenly Blake's lips were against Yang's.

It lasted only a moment, but long enough for Blake's skin to ignite and the air in her lungs to flit away. It tasted a little like burnt toast.

Yang was the one to pull away, leaving her palm on Blake's cheek, who pressed into it, not wanting the moment to end.

"Blake, I-" Yang stepped back, and Blake raised her eyes to meet Yang's again.

"I… I thought you would…"

"So did I."

"Why didn't you?"

Yang took a deep, shaky breath.

"Blake, I need to know. If we're going to do this, if we're going to find out what happened to her, whether you're in. All the way. No matter what it takes." Blake didn't even pause to think.

"Of course."

"Okay… Okay." Yang's legs shook, and Blake lunged forward to catch her.

"Let's get you some rest." Blake's voice was laced with worry, trying to pull Yang back towards the hospital bed.

"No, not in there." Yang pushed Blake off, grabbing the side of the door to balance herself. "I… I need to get away from here."

Blake saw the shaking in her hands, heard the trembling of her voice. The fragility. Yang was broken and cracked and a moment from shattering. She nodded, wrapped one of Yang's arms around her shoulder, and helped her walk out, far away from the door leading to that dark room.

All the while, little bits of crimson dripped to the ground, leaving a trail of blood in their wake.

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _Hey all,_

 _Sorry that the updates are taking so long lately, but alongside the release of V4, I felt I had to power through and give all of you some more. This isn't where I was going to end the chapter, but it seemed as good a place as where I was going to, and I probably won't have that section finished for another week or so._

 _Anyways, to the story. I'm really excited and nervous for what's coming up. We're really going to be delving into the underlying mysteries of the story now, so keep reading. Those inquisitive minds amongst you may want to try reading between the lines now more than ever. I need to ease everyone into the ending... Which of course means I need to be dropping more and more hints._

 _Since it's been so long, I'll try to answer a few questions here since I haven't been very active over PM's (sorry everyone who's asking questions)._

 _Reconnaissance: There's no posting schedule anymore. It used to be everyday, then every week, then every two weeks... I no longer want to rush it. I won't release a chapter unless I think it's at least mediocre or I can't think of a way to improve it... I want to try and get one out every 2 weeks from now on though, so that's the tenuous timeline._

 _Edmirus28: Very perceptive. I've had a lot of struggles that these characters are going through... Be they metaphorical representations or not. I can only write what I know intimately. Things are generally going better these days though, and thank you for the well wishing._

 _Hirshja: Yep :D though with a bit of a twist. I like to play with and spin well known concepts. If you look through the letters, you'll find a lot of variations of Hamlet's soliloquies._

 _Fury: Ruby's section from last chapter probably should have been moved to this one. I wanted to show some context to Weiss' letter, but it doesn't read the best. The ending of Yang's section before the conclusion was so that the reveal could be from Blake's perspective this chapter. The hope was that those reading would feel like Blake here. I get how it could be a tease though._

 _RWBY Order: I'm sorry, but I won't censor my writing. I know it can be hard to read, but that's kind of the point. To evoke the emotions in the reader the characters are feeling, I have to be a little vicious with how I phrase things._

 _Thank you all for reading, and I hope this chapter was a nice break from how things were going. Hope you all enjoyed!_

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	23. Chapter 23: Smoke and Mirrors

Cold, damp air snaked underneath her cloak, and Ruby shivered. The gravel rooftop they were on, across the street from a large apartment building, shifted underneath her as Ruby wrapped the soft fabric tightly around her.

"How are you two not freezing?" Ruby asked the twins, neither wearing anything more than they had been at the club. Both turned to her for a moment, humphed, then looked away. Time passed.

"Yang never got cold," Miltia said disdainfully. Ruby lowered her head, her a sharp pang ripping through her stomach, and was silent.

Ruby wasn't sure what they were looking for, and the twins didn't say much, so Ruby stayed where she was, doing her best to think of nothing. Because nothing was far better than the wolves of pain and fear that prowled through her mind at all hours, snarling and gnashing their teeth at her, always ready to pull her into the shadows.

"There," One of the twins - Ruby wasn't sure which, they sounded the same - noted. A dark car had pulled up outside the apartment and a few men and women in suits got out. Ruby frowned. It wasn't the typical garb of the White Fang.

"Who-"

"Let's go." Melanie cut Ruby off. The twins stood tall and walked to the edge of the roof that overlooked an alleyway below. They stepped onto the ledge in sync, and then stepped off casually, with the confident swagger of those who did not fear, but were feared.

Ruby didn't like them much.

She followed the twins off the roof, landing in a crouch on the cement below, covered in small pebbles that scraped her hands and made her let out a hiss of pain. When she looked up, she saw the twins pressed to the side of the brick walls of the alley, observing the car silently from the shadows. Ruby stayed kneeled on the ground, confident the shadows would cover her.

"Get against the wall." Melanie hissed, never turning her head. Ruby complied, frowning. "We're not dealing with Grimm here, we're dealing with people. People are harder to sneak up on." The girl whispered, talking down to Ruby as though she were a novice. In a sense, Ruby was. It disturbed her how well versed the twins seemed to be with this line of work.

Ruby's train of thought was broken as the sound of tires on gravel signalled the departure of the car. She peeled off the wall a little to look at the apartment's entrance, seeing a few others holding the door open for one particularly burly man entering the building. All of them were wearing red ties and sunglasses.

"Those don't look like White Fang." Ruby muttered, half to herself.

The twins looked at each other, and rolled their eyes.

"Were you expecting antlers and revolutionary masks? The White Fang is an organized institution." Miltia said, voice dripping with venom.

"Let's go." Melannie added, stepping into the light, followed shortly by her sister.

Ruby stuck her tongue out at them, and then followed.

"Okay Red, you're up." Ruby didn't bother trying to figure out which twin had said it. She swung the door open and stepped inside as the twins broke off and headed for the fire escapes. The plan was for Ruby to cause a distraction, and then the twins would enter on the higher floors as the security came to deal with the huntress at their doors.

As she walked into the expansive lobby, the man behind the main desk who was reading a newspaper lowered it and looked at her with a queer expression on his face.

He paused for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" He finally asked, obviously confused by her presence.

"Well, I'm a huntress." He laughed.

"Sure you are." The man huffed and returned to reading his paper.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from its holster and unfurled it, twirled it around, and slammed the tip of the scythe into the floor, cracking the marble tiles.

The man's newspaper came down once more. As he saw the scythe, his eyes widened.

"Shit!" He yelled as he fumbled for the radio on his belt. Ruby allowed him to go for it. "Code red! Main lobby!" His voice was urgent.

Immediately, several doors opened along the sides of the wide room and a dozen or so men dashed out, each in a white suit with a red tie. They levelled a variety of guns at her.

"Don't move!" One of them, the only one wearing a fedora, ordered. Ruby sighed. She didn't really want to fight them, but the twins needed a big distraction if they were to get to the boss. All they needed to do then was tell him to back down, and order his men to stand down. When they did so, the three of them would leave.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby tensed and activated her semblance.

She shot forward, folding the edge of her scythe down so no sharp edges were exposed. She slammed the pommel into the first of the men, who had made a crescent surrounding her. There was a pause after as they processed how she had moved from _there_ to _there_. Then the nearest one raised his gun.

Ruby ducked under the shot and kicked her leg out, snapping it into his knee, making it buckle. She cracked the shaft of her scythe across his head, knocking him out as her aura absorbed a volley of shots. She used her semblance to dash to the other end of the crescent and grabbed the man's hand, twirling him and throwing him back across the circle, crashing into two others. She dive-rolled behind the line of guards and swept out of the maneuver, holding her snaith out to crash into their legs. There was one last man standing, who hesitantly pulled his radio from his pocket. It was the one with a fedora.

"All available units to the main lobby." He commanded, then tossed the radio to the side. "Listen here, there are dozens of men in this building, and all of them are coming here right now so-" He was cut off as Ruby lunged forward, planted a leg behind his knee and snapped her palm into his chest, flipping him over and back into the floor.

Ruby let out a breath and stood, making sure that all of the security guards were either knocked out or pretending to be so.

There was a _ding_ as an elevator opened, and Ruby looked up to see another dozen men flood out. There was a loud crack as unseen doors opened and even more of the guards rushed into the room, all wearing white suits and red ties. Ruby frowned and sighed, readying her scythe.

* * *

Ruby stood, wheezing, in a sea of white-covered bodies. The order to stand down had never come, so Ruby had fought the men until there were none left. Her aura was flagging, but no more of the guards had come. She picked up a radio and listened, but there was nothing. No static, no one trying to broadcast.

Tucking the radio into one of her pouches, she jogged across the floor until she reached the elevator, which opened as she pushed the call button. When she got in, she pressed the top floor, and waited as it rose.

The twins hadn't given her their scroll numbers, nor did they have radios. There was no way to communicate with one another, and Ruby was growing worried that something had happened to them. The White Fang had been violent before she had returned, and despite the twins' words, Ruby was afraid that the order may not be as peaceable as they suggested. If that was the case, Ruby had let two civilians walk into a powerful operative's quarters alone, without means of communication.

The hard mask of determination that Ruby had almost forgotten descended on her face. This wasn't about her. This wasn't about Weiss.

As a huntress, it was her duty to save people, and now she might have to do just that.

Ruby cocked Crescent Rose, and the scythe unfurled, fully combat ready. Ruby was already crouched low and ready to move when the soft ding of the elevator sounded and the doors slid open.

The penthouse was wide and white, reminiscent of the old paintings of ancient halls with towering columns of marble. The penthouse was a shorter version of those halls, but with stainless steel gilding sliding around the columns like the tongues of flames flicking along their lengths. Everything was pristine and clean.

Except for a planter, tipped on its side and cracked so its dirt spilled over the the floor and the broken stalks of the Pachira it had once held. Ruby stalked forward, perfectly silent on the tips of her feet, and knelt down beside the cracked clay, running her fingers through the spilled soil. There was a damp patch, but in the dim light of the night, Ruby couldn't see it's colour. She rubbed the wet soil between her fingers, then held it up to her nose. She could smell the fresh scent of well maintained soil, but beneath that was the unmistakable tang of copper.

Blood.

Ruby would have cursed, but now of all times she had to be silent.

She walked along the hardwood floor, careful not to let her boots clack on the brittle surface, looking for any more signs of what had happened. The moonlight revealed nothing, until a stray beam flicked off something dark on the otherwise impeccably cleaned floor. A dark spec of liquid. Ruby didn't need to see it fully to know what it was.

Looking around, she saw a trail of splotches leading off into a side room with the door cracked open just a hair.

Ruby made her way to the door and leaned against the wall next to it, craning her neck, listening intently. She listened for the slightest scuffle, anything to give away what had happened. There were silent footsteps, and nothing else.

Ruby took a breath and steeled herself.

Shouldering the door open, Ruby cocked her rifle and aimed down the sight, searching for the threat.

But there was none.

The burly man that Ruby had seen earlier entering the building was tied up in a chair, head hung low, blood leaking from a large cut on his shoulder, sliding down his skin, and dripping into a growing puddle behind his legs. There was a bed behind that, upon which Ruby saw Melanie lounging, one leg hung over the side swinging back and forth.

Miltia was walking into the room from a lavatory on the side, her red dress swaying slightly, and her long, claw-like blades stained a darker scarlet.

The twins' heads snapped to Ruby as she barged in, the barrel of her gun pointed at Miltia's chest.

"What's going on?" Ruby said, her brow furrowed as she took in the scene in front of her. "What are you doing to him?"

The twins looked at each other, and shrugged.

"We're questioning him." Melanie answered in a drawl, propping herself up on her elbows.

"You're not questioning him… You're torturing him!" Ruby accused, keeping her rifle pointed at Miltia's chest.

The twin stepped forward, challenging Ruby to shoot. There was a look in her eye that terrified Ruby.

It wasn't malice. It wasn't fear. It wasn't anger or hurt or any other recognizable emotion.

It was nothing.

Utter apathy. The same void that had been gnawing at Ruby since her return. The void that threatened to swallow her whole. It was uncaring, utterly indifferent to hope, truth, and love.

Ruby swallowed hard.

"This is what we came here for." Miltia crossed her arms and cocked her hips.

"I thought we came to talk to the White Fa-" Melanie cut Ruby off with a laugh.

"It's not the White Fang." She turned to her twin. "She really is dumb, isn't she?"

Miltia didn't answer, but kept her eyes locked with Ruby.

"I'm so glad you came." The red-dressed woman deadpanned. "You really made this so much easier." Finally breaking eye contact with Ruby, Miltia walked behind the chair with the man tied to it, sliding her fingers under his chin and lifting it up. The man's head rolled back, and his eyes found Ruby, standing there, gun trained on his captor.

"Your brother sends his regards, Shiro Xiong." Her inflection never changed. Her voice never wavered. Ruby locked eyes with the man. His were wide, ice blue. He looked scared, tears brimming in his eyes.

"Miltia, stop." Ruby demanded, turning her gaze back down her sights, training it on the enforcer's face, but her finger stayed on the trigger guard. She wasn't sure yet if she could shoot. She didn't know what kind of a struggle they had had. If Miltia's aura was too low, the shot would break it, and kill the woman.

"You won't shoot." The red dressed girl met Ruby's gaze steadily as she straightened, her claws scratching against the man's throat. "Yang might've shot. You won't. You're a huntress, you can't hurt people."

"Don't touch him," Ruby warned emptily. Her tongue flicked out and licked her lips. Miltia was about to kill him.

And it was Ruby's choice.

She could end it now. If she pulled the trigger, it would either kill Miltia, or hurt her severely enough to put her down for a while. She'd save a life, but only at the chance of taking another.

She had to try something else. Anything else.

"Is it worth it?" Ruby begged, trying to make the twin understand the choice she was making. To make her understand where she was sending this man. To that cold, empty chill that crept into Ruby's heart every night, to that place she had come back from. To be no more. To be nothing but a memory in the hearts of those who had loved him; nothing but a scar on their hearts. "Don't make yourself someone who does this. No one can decide who lives and who dies." Ruby pleaded with the girl, but she saw no change in those flat, green eyes.

She didn't care.

"You're talking like I haven't done it before." Miltia muttered, and then smiled and slit the man's throat.

"No!" Ruby screamed, forgetting her scythe and dashing towards the man. He gasped and choked, trying to find air, but the crimson blood filled in his air way, drowning him. His eyes met hers, panicked and frenzied as his chest heaved and bucked, trying to draw air past the fluid filling his lungs. There was an electric urgency in them, and Ruby could see the pleading. He was asking her for help, to just please help him, get him the air he so desperately needed. Ruby pressed her hand against his throat, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it did nothing to alleviate his plight.

The choking grew weaker.

The panic in the eyes grew.

And then it was just weak tremors, and his eyes relaxed, and then he was still.

Ruby shook him with her scarlet hands, but he didn't move. And he would never move. He was still forevermore.

Shaking, Ruby stood. Her hands trembled, and she felt like she couldn't get enough air.

"What-" She gasped on the word as she tried to get it out. "What did you do?" She demanded, horror constricting her chest.

Miltia met her gaze levelly. "What you helped me do." She whispered.

"No…" Ruby shook her head and backed towards the door, to Crescent Rose. "I'm stopping you."

On the bed, Melanie laughed. "Stop us? You practically did our job for us."

"I'm taking you to the police, and then I'm doing the same to your boss."

Melanie cocked an eyebrow at that, and hopped off the bed, stalking towards Ruby.

"Really? You are? Because I think you spent a lot of time fighting a lot of people downstairs, and your aura must really be hurting."

Ruby scooped up her weapon, and held it, poised to strike. The white-clad girl wasn't wrong. She could feel her aura flagging, its last wisps coiling around her weakly. It didn't matter. They had killed. They had _murdered_. Without thought or regard for the life they were taking.

They had to be stopped.

"Put your weapons down." Ruby ordered, but the sisters did not oblige. Ruby's hands still shook on her gun, and she switched her grip so she was holding it as a scythe.

Melanie dashed forward, spinning and snapping a leg out towards Ruby's head. She ducked and tried to hook her blade under the woman's shimmering white boot, but Melanie hopped over it. Miltia jumped in, swinging at Ruby's chest and she had to twist to get out of the way, trying to extend her scythe to keep them at bay, but the two were already inside her guard, rendering Crescent Rose useless.

Ruby dropped the blade, batting a kick away and feeling the sharp spikes on Melanie's boots rake against her forearm. Her adversary followed up by going low for Ruby's ankles as Miltia swung high again. Ruby crossed her arms in front of her chest, using her aura to absorb the blow as it knocked her backwards. Ruby did a handspring and came up, hoping that she'd have some room to work, but the twins didn't give her a second.

They flowed and danced together, working as a single unit rather distinct opponents. Anytime that Ruby tried to mount an offence, she'd find a multitude of blows raining down on her, forcing her back into the defensive. Ruby slowly backed away as she tried to maneuver between legs and blades. Exhausted as she was from her previous fight, Ruby felt herself losing control. She struggled to raise her arms and use her legs to position herself, slowly waning. Each flurry of blows from the twins snapped against her aura, spreading it thin.

And then it broke as Melanie's foot snapped at her head. Her aura shattered and the heavy blow snapped against Ruby's temple.

She crumpled to the ground as white lightning arced across her vision and she gasped as it flared down her spinal cord, lighting her world in a brilliant flash of pain. The white faded slightly, giving way to a grey wash of colours. Ruby could faintly make out the twins standing above her even as the black began to creep in on the edges of her vision.

"Thanks for the help, Red." Miltia said with a smile, and then raised her boot. The kick was the last thing Ruby saw before the world disappeared in a swirl of shadows.

* * *

She let the hot water run down her body, sliding over her toned, smooth skin. She could feel the slight bumps of her skin with her fingertips, she could feel the streams of water breaking against her flesh, even the steam rising from the floor to tickle her face.

Yet everything was numb.

She first saw a man die when she was a child, just a few years old. She had cried for days.

She didn't think she would even notice if someone died in front of her now. It was like the world wasn't real. Every pore of the expensive tile of the shower that she could see with such fine clarity held no meaning. If she reached out, she was sure her hand would pass right through it with no resistance. Even as she raised her hand up to touch it, dragged her finger along it, felt it scrape against the pads of her fingers, it wasn't real. Her body was detached, as if she were simply observing things happening around her. The world passed around her, but she was stuck, suspended somewhere between everything and nothing, and she simply was.

She had no idea how long she had been in the shower, so she turned the dial slowly, feeling the water change from hot to lukewarm to icy cold in a matter of seconds before the streams ceased, and it was just her, standing there, water dripping down her hair, her body, falling off her fingertips and running down her legs. She listen to the _drip drop_ of the small beads of liquid crashing against the floor, and at some point, she realized that they had stopped.

She stepped out of the shower, reaching for a towel. Her arm moved slowly as she wiped the towel down her skin. Each movement was slow, without purpose, but then, without knowing any time had passed, she was dry.

When she was done, the fog of the mirror had beaded up so she could see clearly in it, and she stood for a moment, locking eyes with the woman behind the looking glass. She looked strong. Her body was laced in sinewy muscle covered by tanned skin that shone healthily in the amber light. Toned, but not thin. Filled out, but not plump.

It was the eyes that gave it away. The woman in the mirror had dark, amber eyes that should have been beautiful. The were a rich shade, but they were glossy. Some poor imitation of life.

She wished she could do something for the woman, but she was trapped behind the mirror, far away, unreachable. Nothing could be done for her.

After what might have been an eternity, or perhaps the blink of an eye, She unlatched the door of the bathroom, fully clothed once more, and stepped into the darkness. She knew not when she had dressed. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the shadows. And it was there in front of her.

That which she had nearly lost.

She moved forward on silenced feet, tiptoeing up to the side of the bed and sitting on its edge. Underneath the covers, a fallen angel shivered in a cold sweat, nightmares shaking her dreams.

She could not blame the angel. Everything had changed, and there was no going back now. Death had taken so much from her. It had taken love and joy, and then it had taken reason. And without reason, the angel forgot how to fly, and plummeted towards the ground.

She had offered the angel a chance. A chance to be free of existence. A chance to let her light wink out forever, and leave a cold shadow on the world.

The angel was still there. Her light still burned, smouldering under all the pain and fear that choked her and clipped her wings, but it was there.

And yet, she had been offered a chance to be smothered.

Who would ask for that? A monster. One who wished for the deadly embrace of shadows.

Blake thought of the woman in the mirror. She wondered if the woman had forgotten how to fly.

She would not sleep tonight. So she sat, thoughts of weeping angels and women in looking glasses running through her mind until the first rays of the sun broke the shadows of the night.

* * *

A/N:

 _Hey all,_

 _I promised I would finish this book, and I will. I'm just finding it really rough lately. It's just really hard to write for some reason now. I just can't see the words the same way I used to. It's like coming back to a game of chess after not playing for too long. You know that the pieces all fit together and move in a beautiful pattern, but you can't see it anymore. You can't make the right moves, the ones that make sense._

 _I can't find the right words._

 _I think part of it is the point in the story we're at. Or the past 2 chapters anyways. There are a few chapters that I want to write right now, but I can't. We're getting towards the ending, and I just want to jump forward and start writing it right now. But I can't. So I keep getting distracted when I write._

 _I think it also has to do with how busy I've been. I don't have the time to think about what I'm going to write beforehand. I've got about two free hours a week right now, and in that time I need to sit down and just write, or it'll be months before I can get a decent chapter out._

 _Onto this chapter though. This one was strange in that there was more action than I really wanted. I did what I could to abbreviate it though. This story isn't about fights and action. It's about choices and meanings. That said, this was a critical chapter that sets up the next big things! For those, I'm excited._

 _Thanks for reading, and I hope you hang on for a bit longer. I know it's been a long journey since this story started, but I promise I'm going to do my best to finish it well, with all the pieces I've made to fit together._

 _Hope you're still enjoying._

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	24. Chapter 24: Shades of Red and White

**If you've had issues with some of Yang's scenes, probably skip at least the italic part of this chapter. If you're prone to 'triggering', definitely skip it.**

* * *

 _The dark room was silent. Miltia had no idea how many days had passed since last she had seen light. She knew it was days though, because the space between her legs was hardly sore anymore. She had grown accustomed to measuring time by the fading of aches and bruises._

 _Melanie was probably sleeping again. The last client who had chosen them had been particularly cruel and brutal. Melanie had gotten the worst of it, because unlike her sister, she still shied away from the clients' groping fingers. Particularly with the twins, the guests didn't want to feel any guiltier than they already did. Melanie had tried to tell her sister that they got violent when they felt guiltier, but Melanie said she couldn't help it. They just scared her, violated her, too much._

 _There was a quiet sob, and with a start, Miltia realized her sister wasn't asleep. She was just trying to hide tears. Miltia knelt down and rubbed Melanie's back in small circles. It was one of the only memories they still had of their mother, and the two often comforted each other in this way. Often, they couldn't speak because their throats were too sore, but the simple gesture was always stronger than the softest words. It was how they had survived the nights of shame and pain._

 _Melanie's soft sobs made her body convulse in a grotesque tempo. Miltia could do nothing but rub her back._

 _"_ _Miltia?" Melanie whispered, sitting herself up, the slithering of her chains accompanying her. The sisters always whispered in the dark room. It was spacious, and the walls in this building were thick for good reason, but the girls always whispered nonetheless._

 _She squeezed her sisters hand, letting her know she was there._

 _"_ _How… How long has it been?" Melanie's voice was a moment from bursting back into tears the entire time._

 _"_ _I don't know. We're older though." Miltia thought of the growing bumps on her chest. She knew both she and her sister were starting to go through the changes to a woman's body, a far cry from the children they had been when they had first come to this hell. Miltia had noticed the enthusiasm of some of their repeat clients had waned over time. Maybe that was why._

 _"_ _It… It must have been years by now, right?" Melanie broke, sobbed. "How much longer… How long can we go on?" She whispered._

 _Miltia had no answer, so she rubbed her sister's back, trying not to cry herself._

* * *

 _He was rich, obviously. This new client the masked man had brought. Golden tie clip, fine suit, along with a watch and rings showed his extravagant wealth. Naturally, the man in the mask had lined up his best products. Melanie squeezed her hand, and Miltia squeezed were each other's only reassurance in this hell._

 _The man looked at them, his lips parting slightly in shock. The masked man's eyes danced as he watched the client observe them. Nervously, the client licked his lips, his surprise slowly giving way to a hunger. He looked at them, long for them. Melanie's nails were digging into Miltia's arm now, squeezing so hard she may have been drawing blood. But Miltia just stared at the man, completely hopeless._

 _But then another emotion, the only saviour that Miltia had ever konwn, crossed the man. Guilt struck him, ensnaring his feet mid step towards us, and he shamefully lowered his head. Miltia let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, shaking slightly. Today, at least, they would be safe. Guilt had saved them again._

 _The man quickly picked Alys, a pretty brunette with long, sleek hair wearing a tight red dress that flared out- the next youngest whore, and made his way to the nearest room. Even as Melanie and Miltia were marched past it to their own room, seconds later, she could already hear a painful gasp from Alys as the man slapped her flesh._

 _Guiltily, Miltia sighed with relief. She had been spared from a hitter._

* * *

 _Miltia held Melanie's hand, squeezing it to reassure her as the tall man in the dark suit slowly walked down the lineup of women in front of him. The masked man sometimes did this for new clients. Display all the best talents for their greedy little eyes._

 _Miltia just hoped that this man was not one of those monsters who saw the twins and then licked their lips. Melanie had bled for the first time last night, and she was scared enough as it was. So Miltia hoped for all that she was worth that this one man passed them over._

 _When his eyes found her though, Miltia saw it. That hunger. She saw it burn deeply in him, fiercely. He stepped towards them. The masked man snapped his fingers, and Melanie and Miltia stepped forward. Melanie was squeezing her hand so tight. Miltia wanted to reassure her, but how could she? She couldn't save her sister from this. No one could._

 _Even before the door closed behind them, even before the first blow landed, both Melanie and Miltia were crying._

* * *

 _The man in a white suit let out a roaring laugh as he stumbled through the door, still holding a mostly empty bottle of whiskey. Two others in black suits followed him, laughing, all three with the same haircut and faces. Brothers. And all drunk. Miltia had seen a few drunks in before. For the most part, they were easy, though a few got violent when drinking. If she was lucky, they would fall asleep._

 _The masked man was silent behind them, allowing them to take in the merchandise. The youngest brother frowned as he looked around. "I thought we were going to a strip club Polaris." He frowned. The brother in white laughed._

 _"_ _Junior, this is even better! At a strip club, you can't touch. But here? You can do whatever you want. For a little lien, you're one of these bitches' god for a night."_

 _The man in white's eyes drifted down the line until he found Melanie and Miltia. She saw the glaze from the alcohol fade in a second, sharpened by hunger. He took a step towards them, and Junior's gaze followed. His jaw dropped._

 _"_ _What the fuck?" He yelled drawing a pistol and aiming it at the masked man. "Are those_ kids?!" _He screamed at Miltia's tormentor._

 _"_ _Junior!" The burly man in white yelled, but there was a flash and a concussive_ bang _that left her ears ringing. Miltia couldn't hear anything but she saw the red blossom all over the masked man and then the brother in white shoving the brother in black. Junior ignored him though, pushed him out of the way, and stepped towards the girls. When he reached them, he knelt down in front of them. By then, the ringing was fading._

 _Unsure of what to do, Miltia did what she thought the man wanted. She reached out and undid the first button on the suit. Melanie quickly started forward to help. The man stood, a horrified look crossing his face. Miltia tensed, expecting a slap._

 _"_ _What the fuck are you doing" His voice shook. The white one laughed, and took a swing from his bottle._

 _"_ _They want to do it brother!" He laughed again, and Junior turned back to them. But Miltia watched the white brother as his laughter faded, and he looked at her with the same hunger._

 _She flinched away from it._

 _Junior shrugged his jacket off, wrapping it around Melanie before snapping at the last brother, who had stayed by the door, arms folded. He tossed Junior his jacket, and Junior draped it around Miltia's shoulders. She looked at him, confused. He was trying to smile behind something horrified._

 _"_ _It's alright," Junior murmured. "You two'll be okay."_

* * *

 _Melanie sauntered up to her, and Miltia smiled back at her sister._

 _"_ _Two gin and tonics." Melanie said to the bartender, then leaned back against the counter beside her sister. "Busy night tonight."_

 _It was for a weekday. Thursdays normally didn't draw a huge crowd at Junior's club, but there were more people there that night._

 _"_ _Where'd that Matt guy go?" Melanie asked, and Miltia blushed. Matt had dropped by on a weekend one night and got talking with her. It wasn't unusual for Miltia to chat with the patrons. They were fun a lot of the time, but she had never seen the same one twice. But Matt came back the next night and found her. They never danced, they just talked, all night. Since then he had stopped by every day for two weeks, even if just for a fifteen minute chat in the afternoon._

 _"_ _I told him to go wait by the staircase." Melanie frowned._

 _"_ _Miltia… Are you sure?" Miltia looked away, trying not to let the fear show._

 _"_ _Yes. I… I don't want to live my whole life afraid of everyone because…" Miltia took a deep breath. "Besides, he's not like that." Miltia said nervously._

 _"_ _Okay," Melanie said, unconvinced. "I'll be next door if you need me." Miltia reached out and squeezed her sister's hand, rubbing a circle over the back of it._

 _Leaving the drink Melanie ordered for her untouched, Miltia skipped away towards the staircase. Matt was waiting there for her, twirling a coin between his knuckles to stay occupied. Miltia grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs after her._

 _Closing the door behind her she giggled, hopping onto her bed and patting it across from her. Matt sat down there, and slowly leaned in. Miltia's heartbeat fluttered as his lips, tasting slightly of salt from the sweat of dancing, pressed against hers. Miltia smiled into his lips, exploring them slowly. A hand came up and cupped her face, a thumb brushing a cheek as his tongue slid into her mouth. Miltia hadn't been expecting it, but she allowed it._

 _He pressed against her, slowly laying her down on the bed, his hands running over her with desire. With want. With need._

 _He was going to take her._

 _Frantic kisses trailed down her neck to her collarbone and a hand slid over her chest. Miltia gasped._

 _"_ _Matt…" She whispered, scared._

 _A hand trailed up the inside of her thigh._

 _And suddenly she was right back in the dark room as muggy, hot breath broke over her exposed skin and rough, callused hands slid into her and-_

 _Miltia screamed and kicked, knocking Matt off the bed. He stumbled back, his expression shocked. "I"m sorry," He gasped. "I didn't mean-"_

 _The door slammed open and Melanie was there, her glass boots reflecting the dim light menacingly._

 _"_ _Get the fuck away from her." Melanie snarled, stalking him as if she were a panther. Junior barged into the room, eyes scanning quickly. When his eyes landed on the boy, he stepped forward quickly, drawing a gun and pointing it between Matt's eyes._

 _"_ _Leave, and never come back." He growled, low and dangerous. Matt quickly scampered away._

 _"_ _Are you okay?" Melanie gasped as she through her arms around Miltia, holding her close, rubbing her thumb in small circles around Miltia's back. Miltia clung to her sister, letting the memories fade away, replaced by the now, by Melanie and Junior. The two people she could trust. The only two people she could ever trust._

* * *

 _Miltia slid down the rough wall of the hallway across from Ruby Rose, the miracle girl. Back from the dead. The huntress was still passed out from when Miltia and her sister had incapacitated the woman._

 _Miltia looked down at her scroll, seeing the update she had requested. Yang Xiao Long, still hospitalized. Still unconscious. But here the little rose was._

 _She sneered. If Melanie was in the hospital, nothing would have been able to make her leave her sister's side. Nothing. Least of all someone who was special only because they had fucked. It was disgusting._

 _It was the way the huntress had looked at her when she came into Polaris' room. That absolute horror, as if it was Miltia who were broken and horrid. The same as all the huntresses she had ever met. As if their word were truth. As if what they said was right, always right. But none of them knew the truth. None of them had seen the world the way Miltia had. All of them had grown up around the best of humanity. The ones who were lucky to have never made a choice in their lives. The ones who had never killed to survive, never stole because it was the only way to feed yourself. To them, there was always a right way. A humble way. A heroic way._

 _But there wasn't. Not everyone had that chance._

 _And for her to be scorned because the world had chewed her up and spit her out hardly breathing - that was not justice. That was not fair._

 _Ruby Rose, the huntress, was nothing more than a broken idol for the sheep to flock around._

* * *

When she woke, she found herself shivering. Cold dust dribbled off her face as she peeled her skin from the rough concrete. Pain welled in her cheekbone, and Ruby winced as she gently reached up to touch her face. Her cheek was tender, but the bone underneath felt intact. Everything else seemed mostly functional.

Seeing the dark bricking of a wall in front of her, she reached out and fell against it, sliding her back down it until she was sitting. The jagged flooring pressed against her uncomfortably, but Ruby ignored it. She just sucked in a deep breath and let it out, wincing as her head began to throb.

As she raised her fingers to her temples, the blurry world began to come into focus. As she touched her head, she felt something hot and sticky. Looking at her hand, she saw red.

Her visions swam as a particularly sharp wave of agony washed over her. Ruby squeezed her hands into fists over her eyes, hissing sharply to try and ward off the pain.

"What is it about you?" Ruby looked up to find Miltia sneering at her through wrought iron bars. Ruby's brow creased, not fully understanding the world yet. The other girl was slouched against the opposite wall, one leg kicked out and the other hugged to her chest.

Ruby paused, shocked. She caught herself, and studied the girl across from her. Miltia looked angry, but there was something fragile in her eyes. Like she was a step from breaking, but was holding on out of pure spite.

"You… Hurt him." Ruby said, trying to remember clearly. "You and your sister. You hurt that man."

"We killed him." A pang shot through Ruby.

"… Why?" She begged the woman outside the cage. Ruby felt numb.

"Because that's what I do. We didn't all get as lucky as you - raised to think you're somehow better than us."

Ruby was silent, watching the girl, trying to control her anger.

"I was not born lucky." She finally spoke, quietly, half to herself, the flash of a white cloak filling her mind before it slipped away as always it did now. Since her death.

Miltia scoffed.

"Far better off than my sister and me." She practically spat the words, filling them with as much venom as possible. "You don't know what it's like to spread your legs because that's the only way you can get enough to eat for the night. I suppose Melanie and I were lucky. Even from the age of eight, twins were in high demand. Fit, young twins. No one would hurt us, we'd never miss a meal."

Ruby was speechless as Miltia wrapped her arms around herself, curling her legs into her. She looked scared and alone.

"The man with the mask. He always wore dark clothes. He kept us chained up there when he wasn't flaunting us down with the other whores. Most men looked at us, too guilty to hold our gazes. But in more than one, I saw desire. And not one, not a single one, tried to help.

"And then someone did. A victory celebration, Junior and his two brothers. Half drunk, they barged into the brothel, and the masked man was all too happy to oblige. He lined his top prizes up, even the renowned twins. His most talented players that would fetch the highest price for these fancy men in their suits.

"The oldest brother, he had no reservations. He was a man by then, in his twenties. In the underground, you made money fast if you were vicious, and he was a god amongst kings for his wealth. He walked up the line, looking each whore in the eye. Melanie and I were at the end. Best for last, the masked man always said. We were shaking, and we held on to each other. As if it could save us somehow.

"And then the older brother saw us. And just like everyone who had ever picked my sister and I out of a line, I saw hunger there. Something new. Something unconquered. Something _fresh_.

"But then Junior saw us, and he looked shocked. He couldn't believe it. Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Junior had shot the man in the mask and he was kneeling before us, two whores, offering us his jacket. He was just a teenager then, but kind nonetheless. His brother was furious, but Junior just told him he could have anyone there but the twins that he obviously wanted. I remember being scared of Junior, but acting the same as I had for years, I started unbuttoning his shirt. Getting ready to service him however he wanted. He looked disgusted and appalled and hit my hand away. He asked me what the hell I was doing, and all I could remember was being scared that he didn't want me. Because if he didn't want his trophy twins, I didn't know how my sister and I would eat.

"He told me he promised to keep us safe. And he has. Since that day, he's never asked anything of us. He never asked us to do anything for him we didn't volunteer for. We were never paid for sex again. No one who looked at us wrong ever got away with it.

"So, when the first thing he ever asks of us is to kill that same brother who would have fucked my sister and I when we were _children,_ we didn't hesitate. So don't you _fucking_ dare look at me like I'm some filth that washed up from the gutters." There was a pause as she breathed, slow, trying to control a rage burning deep within her. "So what gives you the right to pity me?" She spat at Ruby, who just sat in her cell, shocked.

"I… don't." Ruby murmured, still trying to recover.

"What?"

"I… I don't pity you. You… scare me."

The girl sneered, like a caged animal. Outside the bars, she was trapped in a memory long past.

"Because I know how to kill? Because I'll do what you huntresses look down on? The monsters, they're not out there." Miltia looked through the grey walls, to the far reaches of the world where the Grimm haunted every shadow. "The Grimm aren't anything. The only way they can ever find us is because of the real monsters. People. People that can do more than just kill. People that can understand each other, torture them, rape them…" She trailed off squeezing her eyes shut. Ruby saw a crystalline tear fall down her cheek. "No, they're _us."_

"I know." Ruby whispered. "That's why I'm scared. Because I think we're all the same. We're all broken… And I ran from it for a long time. And now, without her, I don't… What if it finally catches up with me?" Ruby trailed off, whispers of memories that scattered at her touch brushed her mind fleetingly.

"Without who? Your little princess bitch?" Miltia sneered, a wild look in her eyes.

Ruby glared. She could take abuse. The girl dressed in scarlet across from her could rip Ruby apart - it was nothing Ruby hadn't felt the world had been doing to her for weeks. But Weiss had endured so much. From an icy childhood to the mask she always wore, even as she lay next to Ruby, bare as a newborn, she carried a shielded heart. She could not stand for this girl to slight someone who had already endured so much.

"Don't call her that." Ruby commanded, her voice more dangerous than she was used to.

"Who? Your little princess? You come back to life, you break _everything_ , you defy death, and the first thing you can think of is getting your fingers back inside that bitch's twat."

"SHUT UP!" Ruby yelled at the other girl, seething with an almost uncontrollable rage.

 _This isn't you,_ some corner of her mind warned, but Ruby smothered it.

"Why? So you can go on pretending you're better than us? You could buy any hooker for pennies. You could find any slut in a club, but I'll bet the first thing you thought of when you woke up was Weiss Schnee. Your conquest. A cunt to call your own-"

Ruby screamed as she slammed against the metal curtain keeping her in place. At her touch, the gated metal shot off, exploding from the concrete surrounding it and flying into Miltia, who hadn't the time to react.

Ruby stood slowly, shocked, eyes locked on what had freed her, a familiar sound emanating from the white glyph floating at the mouth of her cell. Weiss' glyph. Even as Ruby stood, it faded. Ruby reached for it, the trace of a woman she had once known, but by the time her fingers brushed it, the glyph was gone.

Ruby's gaze shifted to the metal bars, now covering Miltia. The other girl was unconscious. Ruby stepped up to it and knelt next to the twin, checking for her pulse. Assured that there was a steady heartbeat, Ruby allowed herself to relax for a moment.

One breath.

In.

Out.

Ruby allowed the exhalation to drag on, letting her muscles relax as her lungs let air out in a slow hiss.

She had summoned a glyph.

But now was not the time for that. Junior knew something about Weiss. If he knew anything that could help Ruby find the lost heiress, Ruby needed to know. Taking one last deep breath, she tensed, and marched herself towards the door that would undoubtedly lead to Junior, and Weiss.

* * *

 _a/n:_

 _This is a big chapter for a few reasons. It was going to continue on into the next chapter, but I realized I was already getting close to 4k words, and I always try to keep chapters under that length._

 _So yeah. This is what we ended up with. Initially, I wasn't going to include Melanie and Miltia's backstory in this story. I came up with it for the purposes of who their characters are, but I never thought it would add to the narrative. That said, I felt like it was strange for me to have Miltia hate Ruby so much without an explanation._

 _That's also why I put the warning on this chapter. I've already put my perspective on trigger warnings before, but this goes into whole new messed up territory. The twins came from somewhere horrible. They had to in order to foil properly._

 _I tried my best to write it in a way that didn't delve into it too much. I honestly don't think I could have written those actual parts I was hinting at. It was brutal even having to put myself in that place just to get the in between parts._

 _For anyone worried, this is the absolute darkest the story should get. I think I've put down all the groundwork of horrible things that need to happen to people before they get to be happy._

 _... If they get to be happy..._

 _And we also needed the reveal of Ruby summoning a glyph... Curious to what the reactions to this will be. I still don't think I've seen anyone get it fully right :D_

 _Either you should get another chapter in a few days, or not until after holidays. Can't decide if I'm going to take the holidays to write something happy (because honestly, this is emotionally exhausting sometimes), or to really buckle down and get a buffer going for Letters again. Or maybe I'll work on my book book._

 _Who knows._

 _If I don't see you till after, merry mishmash and a happy new beer._

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	25. Chapter 25: Iterations

Ruby took the stairs two at a time, pelting up the smooth, polished wood of the winding stairway. Finally, she saw another door that would likely lead to the main club. She braced, lowered her shoulder, and slammed into it. Her aura was still weak, but it had recovered enough that the door snapped open, the deadbolt ripping through the doorframe.

There was a startled grunt as one of Junior's men saw her. He jerked back, reaching for his gun, but Ruby slammed into him, bringing him to the ground. A quick smack to the temple and he was down. He'd wake with a hell of a headache, but he would be okay.

She looked up to see another black-clad man, holding a doughnut a few inches from his mouth, a bite already taken from the sweet treat. He looked at her, at his co-worker's still body, then back at her. Feeling a rush of energy, Ruby pushed off her legs, her semblance throwing her forward as she snapped a kick into his chest. His hand had had made it only halfway to the gun before his head smacked into the wall behind him. Ruby winced at the sickening crunch, but his pulse was steady.

She had wanted to keep one awake to ask how to get to Junior, but she had missed that opportunity. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was in a storage room, large kegs of beer and massive bottles of a variety of liquor lining shelves. A few crates were tucked into the corners, and Ruby decided she didn't want to know what was in those. Junior was a supplier, both of information and of all the nasty things that those who frequented the underworld seemed to enjoy so much. It could very well have been from one of those crates that Yang had received the pills that had so nearly taken her life.

There was only one door, no doubt with more guards on the other side. It was solid metal, and as Ruby approached, she realized there was no handle on the inside. She frowned and returned to the sleeping men. They didn't have any radios. Ruby was briefly worried that there was no way out, but realized Junior wouldn't just lock men in the cellar to starve. She walked up to the metal door once more and, hesitantly, knocked.

There was a heavy sigh.

"C'mon man, you just left to get your doughnut."

"Let 'im out." Another voice said. "He's probably been throwing back ale again. Don't want it to smell like piss in there on my next round."

"Why couldn't he just go when he got his doughnut? Is it really that hard to-"

Ruby cut him off with another sharp rap on the door, trying to sound urgent.

"Fine, fine." There was some grumbling, and Ruby hid next to the wall opposite the hinges. The door swung open a little, and a silhouette fell into the dark chamber alongside a patch of flashing lights. "Oi! Where you at?" He yelled into the darkness. "I swear if you're taking a leak in the corner I'm gonna-" With the door open enough, Ruby jumped out and slammed the man into the door. This time, his head didn't hit, and Ruby was thankful as she tossed him into the cellar, a slight yelp accompanying him.

The second guard already had his gun drawn and pointed at her. Risking the bullets against her aura, Ruby reached for his arm. The dust rounds rebounded against her soul-shield as Ruby grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm, and popped his shoulder out of its socket. He tried to grunt in pain, but Ruby muffled him as she tripped him over her foot, making him fall inside the cellar. The other man stood, firing rounds, and Ruby shut the door quickly. The heavy metal dulled their angered shouts, but the pounding on the door let out a sharp ring.

Ruby looked around. The club had not noticed the intrusion at the least. The thumping bass and loud music had kept the club's occupants happy. Ruby curled her nose as she did her best to keep herself from shaking as she walked through the sickly-sweet scent of the club. Sweat and less savoury bodily fluids were masked by perfumes and colognes. A few patrons leered at her as Ruby did her best not to brush against their sticky skin, thoughts of Yang clouding her thoughts and making her stomach drop into a pit.

She found the same staircase she had followed Junior's men up earlier to the upper loft. Each step she took, her worry for her sister and the twisting sensation in her gut abated as anger boiled over and took hold. Junior had used her as a tool to fulfill a murder. He had lied about helping her, had tried to gain her trust, and deceived her. Locked her up, no doubt to test her until he could figure out how she had returned from the dead.

As she crested the top of the staircase, she didn't find Junior surrounded by an entourage of high and drunk patrons seeking his praise. He was alone, a few bodyguards around him. They all drew weapons. Fury shot through Ruby, her heart racing and making her skin feel feverishly hot.

And then a cool chill swept over her. The burst of rage receded, forming a pit of ice in her heart. Not unpleasant, but it burned the way ice melting on one's skin did.

As the guards reached for their weapons, the fell to their hands and knees, dark, spinning glyphs capturing them and binding them down. She saw a few start to struggle against the augmented gravity, and she knew her time was short.

She strode up to Junior, his eyes watching her warily, fear evident in them.

"Where is she?" Ruby commanded, a sternness to her voice that she had not known before. She could picture Weiss so clearly now, her gentle snow-white skin, the red brush of her lips. Ruby's heart tugged, the ice and a yearning pulling it in opposite directions, making her feel like it might sunder itself.

"I don't know." Ruby tensed, a new sigil coming to life in front of his chest. It was red, and Ruby instinctively knew that if she unleashed it, it would fire him back into the chair with such force it might kill him. He seemed to recognize the same thing, raising his hands in surrender. "I don't, I swear." Ruby looked into his eyes and saw no lie. She let the glyph fade, but didn't release his men.

"Talk."

"I never had much contact with her. She came to me, asking about a man. I'd only ever heard talk of him, the sort of talk that makes you disbelieve it on sight. They said that no one saw his face and lived. Stuff like that. I didn't believe it for a second. But when a Schnee comes in and threatens to bring everything you know crashing down around you… You listen.

"I kept my ear to the ground, and a few months later, I heard some chatter about him at a nearby strip joint. I think you know the place. I sent her there, and that's the last time I saw her."

"What else?" Ruby demanded, her heart constricting. She felt like the walls were closing around her. This couldn't be it. There _had_ to be more. It couldn't just be a dead end, leading her back to where she had already gone.

Junior shook his head. "Never heard anything of him before or since. My entire network hasn't heard of him in any of the four kingdoms before or since."

Ruby's heart broke.

She slumped to her knees, a numbness eating away inside her. Her heart felt hollow, as if all the hope and joy in her life had just… Vanished. In an instant. Junior's men leapt to their feet, a dozen firearms pointed at Ruby's skull. If Junior gave the order, within a few seconds her aura would fail and there'd be nothing left of her except a corse peppered with holes leaving a scarlet stain on the floor.

Ruby didn't care.

She would never see Weiss again.

But the bullets didn't come. There was just an endless moment of silence as Ruby sat, too numb and too hurt to move. It was an odd sensation. She felt as if her insides were tearing themselves apart, like every cell her heart ruptured at once and a swarm of spiders were eating at her insides. But she couldn't bring herself to care. To scream or shout or rail against the agony. She just submitted herself to it.

"You don't know, do you? How you came back." It was Junior. Ruby just shook her head, devoid of the ability to speak. He snapped his fingers and there were a few murmurs. A moment later there was a dull thud. Crescent Rose and her scroll sat on the table in front of Junior. Ruby stood and collected them, simply going through the motions.

Was this what Yang felt like? As if the world offered nothing. As though she couldn't feel anything. Ruby wondered if she would have felt the dust rounds if they had been fired at her. The numbness was horrifying. She did not know if it would ever abate. She wondered if it could.

They would follow her, expecting her to find the man Junior spoke of, but Ruby couldn't. He was a whisper on the wind. She might search, every day of every year until she wasted away and her heart finally stilled, but in that moment she knew there was no hope.

She walked back through the club, feeling a few hands trail over her body. Ruby didn't bother to push them away or avoid them. They could wander as they liked. She didn't care. She didn't care at all.

The fresh air outside did little for her. She felt it snake into her lungs, a different texture than inside. It cleared her of the sweaty aroma she hadn't noticed had filled her senses, but her body didn't feel like part of her anymore.

"Ruby," A raspy, familiar voice spoke. She looked to the side. To her surprise, a tall man in a grey suit and red cape with messy, spiky hair was leaning against the club. "Thought I was going to have to knock that entire building down to get you out."

"Why do you follow us?" She asked Qrow. Normally, she would have been elated to see him, but she felt too tired, too cold, to be cheerful.

A dark expression crossed his face. He reached into his pocket, withdrawing his flask. An expert flick removed the cap, and a moment later he took a deep swig. The dark look was gone, and he offered her the flask. Ruby reached out and took it, taking a swig. She had tried alcohol a few times before, and every time she had squeezed her face shut against the taste. It used to burn her nose and throat and stomach. This time, Ruby found her face perfectly relaxed.

"I don't. Not really. Just keep an eye on you two from time to time. Yang, because Raven won't, and you because…" He trailed off and smothered another shadow crossing his face with a deep drink. "Because you're all I have left of her."

Ruby didn't need to ask. She could see it in his eyes.

"I haven't been able to see her since I got back." Ruby spoke in a monotone voice. The words she had left guarded, close to her, leaking out. "Mom. I remember when I was a kid and whenever I was scared, I would wrap her cloak around me and picture her smiling. I had every detail of her face memorized. Now I can't remember anything of her." Qrow studied her face, then motioned to the sidewalk. The two took a seat on the curb, Qrow passing her the flask again.

Ruby drank deep, feeling it slide down her throat as easily as water. She was not thirst. She did not enjoy the taste. There was no appeal to it. Suddenly, she realized she was drinking because she had no reason not to. Because the shadow of the girl she was knew there was something wrong with it. Because drinking here, now, the way she was, would hurt her. She knew it would. She kept drinking.

"Hey kid, go easy." Qrow said with a laugh. She had never realized how hollow his laughs were. Like he didn't mean them. They filled space, the sound people expected to hear. But it was a mockery of the real thing. He was a joker. In that instant, Ruby understood him. She could see the man he had once been, but now she saw him for what he was. A broken man, stagnant, nothing but the memory of those he had loved left to guide him. That was all that was holding him back from wasting away.

He handed her something else, and Ruby took it, passing the flask back. Ruby looked down, and her breath left her.

It was a picture of Summer. Her face, similar to the one Ruby saw in the mirror, except her mother's eyes were still silver. She was beautiful, to be sure, but it was her smile that betrayed her true virtue. It was a kind smile, one full of hope and care.

When she looked up at Qrow, she saw the pain deep in his eyes, fresh and clear. He looked alive again, but only in his agony. She passed it back to him. He kept the flask.

"I look at it sometimes." He murmured, tucking it away. "It reminds me who she was. Reminds me that she'd hate who I've become. It's what stops me from just ending it all." Ruby was surprised at the ache in his voice. This was a side of her uncle she had never seen.

There was a heavy silence, the two taking turns drinking until the flask was gone. A few minutes later, Ruby began to feel the effects. She was surprised at how controlled she felt. Her hands didn't shake, her vision didn't spin, but she felt like she was swimming. Like her mind was clouded. It dulled things, if only a little.

"Y'know," He said, fishing out a second flask, equally as large as the first. Ruby chuckled at it, finding no humour in the action. "She told me once that she thought that everyone had a partner in life. Someone they shared their soul with. Not lovers, nothing like that. Just someone that you understood, and that understood you. Someone you never had to hide anything from, because they'd always get it… I don't think she'd understand this." He shook the flask before sipping again. "I wonder what would have happened if she had been the one to live."

Ruby was quiet for a minute, truly beginning to understand the depth of his loss.

"Why are you here? Just to tell me how bad it gets?" She asked.

"I'm here to tell you that you're like her. This life doesn't belong to you." He murmured. "You're a thief. You're trying to steal this life, but it isn't yours. You're not capable of hating the world and hating yourself. As bad as it gets, as many times as you want to spend your whole life drinking in the gutters, you won't. You'll always move on."

Ruby didn't bother answering. She took another drink, answer enough in its own right.

Qrow chuckled.

"I think that's what Weiss was to me. I… I loved her too. But she was also someone who was always there. I've always trusted dad and Yang, but it's different. And then… She left." Ruby felt an ache tugging at her heart, threatening to shatter the numb facade shielding it.

"I did the same thing." Qrow almost growled. "It was one lie. One mission I didn't tell her about. I had been sworn to secrecy, from family and friends, but… She didn't count. She couldn't have counted. We were tied together. But I didn't say anything, I told her nothing of what I was doing. I sent her away. Next time I saw her, she was dead."

It was simple. Abrupt. Venomous and self loathing. He drank. She sat.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. Sometimes I see so much of her in you that it's hard not to talk to you like you're her. You didn't need to hear that." Ruby shook her head.

"Thank you." She murmured. He offered the flask. She didn't take it, thinking.

The two sat there for a long time, the dark street devoid of anything save a spot of light cast by a lamp a few paces away.

"I found something." Qrow said, his words slurring slightly. "But you're not going to like it."

There was no excitement in Ruby's answer.

"What is it?"

"The man Weiss was talking with… He's not from the kingdoms. I don't know anything about him, other than I think he's dangerous. Hardly anyone who's seen him is alive. They all agree on one thing: they never saw his face. Dark gloves, dark cloak, and never, ever, did they see his face. But they also agree, wherever he is, Grimm follow."

"How does this help?"

"The people I talked to, they were all from villages. Villages in the forests around Vale. Ruby… It wasn't just Grimm. It was always Deathstalkers. After marking down the attack locations, they formed a circle of sorts. There was only one Deathstalker nest that was equally close to all of them."

Ruby began to feel the pit in her stomach again. Of course it would be there. Where it had all ended… and began.

"Where I died."

* * *

 _a/n:_

 _I'm realizing now that this fic might actually hit 100k words. Huh. Thanks all for the support. I know it's been a few years since I've started, so those who are still reading, I owe you a lot._

 _As I said, I promised I would finish this._

 _I don't know if I'll keep writing fics after this. Certainly nothing long anymore. It's just a realization I've hit. I love building up stories and character arcs and telling a full story... But I think I want to move on to telling my own stories. We'll see how I feel as we come to the end of the story._

 _Anyhow, this chapter had a few things going on. Possibly a few hints that are just too overt. A lot of people think they have it figured out. I don't know if they do. I can't wait until I publish the last chapter to see what people think and how the theories evolved throughout the story._

 _Those of you enjoying Blake and Yang, those chapters are coming up next. I'm really excited for it. Really scared too. Hitting the final arc is always terrifying._

 _Cheers,_

 _-Unjax_


	26. Chapter 26: Spyder

_Its slim limbs lick the strands, forever arcing and landing, seeking purchase on the sinewy strands. It crawled to and fro, seeking something seemingly special. The center._

 _Spiraling slowly through the air, its limbs tuck and weave, gathering silk and releasing with each new anchor. It's white carapace glimmered and shone in the twilight, its methodical working slowly coalescing into a dreamy web. Water fell down beaded on its work, but unperturbed, it continued its work._

 _On the surrounding flora, fauna scattered, avoiding its ever-seeking grasp. And as the light finally faded from the world, its work was complete._

 _It descended from the heavens, never bothering to hide._

 _With eight black, cruel eyes, it watched. None approached it, and it sought none out. It simply waited._

 _Around it, the night came to life. Desperate lights lit as the few creatures who had fallen into the clutches of night tried to light their way through the endless abyss. The saw each other, they stayed together, and all the while, its limbs tucked beneath its glittering fangs, it watched._

 _They were slow at first, curious, but ever fearful of the dark that blanketed them. They sought out other lights. Their fires burned bright, and as they began to gather, the embers were lit._

 _One, a playful and adventurous youngling, darted towards one of its companions. The swarm flurried away, until they realized there was no danger. Tentatively, they flew towards one another, each moving a little faster, a little more excitedly._

 _The youngling ventured towards another companion, darting around it. It darted away, but from the rest, there was no reaction. All were far too timid to join in this frivolous display._

 _The youngling's fire never faded. It moved on to a new hopeful, but was shunned yet again. Eventually, none reacted to it, all simply gliding along at the whims of the wind. It flew from one star to the next, but again and again, it was ignored. Forever though, it had a watcher. Eight eyes that followed its every movement._

 _After time its light began to fade. It had become invisible, abandoned by its brethren, and slowly it trailed behind them._

 _An eager talon began to creep forward, away from the web, towards the light._

 _Another youngling flew towards the first, and they circled each other, curious and timid, but real. Forgetting the dangers about them they prodded at one another. They began a slow dance, and slowly their lights began to grow in intensity. Twirling and spinning through the air, their fires trailing behind them in great swathes of luminescence, they were like two fallen stars._

 _Patient, and undeterred, the talon retreated, but the eyes never wavered. Ever, they were there. Ever, the followed._

 _Finally, a third approached, and was welcomed warmly. The three spun in joyous festivities, and, one by one, the flock began to join them._

 _Individual lights disappeared into a growing inferno as they began to form a sphere that shot upwards and spread across the world, covering it in a second dawn. Even the creatures of the day began to reappear, disoriented by the brightness that surrounded them._

 _In the middle of this new star spun the two younglings, an excited energy permeating their every movement. Eventually, their kin no longer needed them, and they drifted away, bringing their light to the rest of the world. The two stayed behind, their circling slowing, drawing closer, until one was indistinguishable from the other._

 _Eager to find somewhere to rest together, they flew apart, flittering from branch to branch, seeking something seemingly special._

 _Eight eyes shone in delight as a tremor passed through its eight legs, emanating from the the center of its labor._

 _A panicked light spun around, now seeming the glimmer of the deadly strands, but unable to liberate its struggling partner. Limbs flailed and wings buzzed and light pulsed, but to no avail. Talons slowly extended, and the spider, illuminated fully in the light of the fireflies, crept slowly towards its prey. The one caught in its web saw it coming, every ounce of its being - previously dedicated to its terrified partner - was focused on what was coming for it now. A slow, inevitable advance._

 _Fangs plunged into its insides, and slowly, its light faded to nothing. Limbs slowed, twitched, and were still. Not yet sated, the spider withdrew, eight eyes on the remaining firefly._

 _Slowly, understanding came to pass between them, and the firefly slowly flew into the web. It did not struggle. It did not resist as the spider crawled towards it._

 _And over it._

 _In confusion, it tried to follow the white widow's path, but its light only reached so far, and the spider left it alone._

 _Confused and alone._

 _And eight eyes watched from the shadows._

* * *

 _a/n:_

 _Chapter isn't finished, but this is my first time writing in weeks._

 _I'm just so tired, it's so hard to do anything._

 _I'm sorry._


End file.
